From the Serious Gun Porn department!
The Russian Ground Forces are set to take delivery of the first production models of the T-14 Armata main battle tank starting in 2017. The Russian army has taken delivery of twenty pre-production version of the tank for operational testing—which is currently under way just outside Moscow at Kubinka. The first operational T-14 unit is likely to be stood up in Siberia with a unit that performed particularly well during the invasion of Crimea according to a source.
"Test of the Armata are going according to schedule without any problems," Alexei Zharich, deputy director of Uralvagonzavod told the Russian language daily Izvestia. "Serial deliveries could begin at any moment—as soon as the customer wants it."
However, Zharich seems to be addressing only the T-14 main battle tank variant. He didn't address the other combat vehicles that are part of the Armata family—it's not clear if those vehicles are also in production. The Armata Universal Combat Platform consists of the T-14 main battle tank, the T-15 heavy infantry fighting vehicle and the T-16 armored recovery vehicle, among a host of other vehicles. Another member of the Armata family includes an upgunned heavy assault armored vehicle, which has been dubbed "the Tank Killer" by Russian media. The "Tank Killer" variant seems to incorporate a derivative of the 2S35 Koalitsiya-SV's 152mm artillery piece into the Armata chassis in a direct fire mounting.
There are a number of articles about the T-14 Armata on the web - I chose to use this one for this submission. Also at sputniknews.com.
takyon: Here's video of the T-14 in action. Russia is also building six new Project 636.3 Kilo-class attack submarines and is working on railguns, exoskeletons, "robot avatars", and smart bullets.
The U.S. Army will begin testing a truck-mounted 50 kW laser in 2017, and scale it to 100 kW in later tests. The Army will also be testing new 155mm, 50mm, and 35mm guns and artillery. The U.S. Navy will begin using shipping container sized Pulsed Power Container Systems from General Atomics as it tests its own railgun technology.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @09:42PM
...but what good is that if they keep getting grounded? [google.com]
Wiring problems
Fuel tank problems
Coolant line problems
...and that's just the recent stuff.
It truly is a complete boondoggle; a gold-plated turkey. [soylentnews.org]
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Funny) by DECbot on Tuesday September 20 2016, @12:10AM
Good thing the air force is desperate to retire the A-10. You know, the one airframe specifically designed to destroy Russian tanks.
The F-35 looks to have that one killer feature essential for pilot survivability... Never making it to the combat zone.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 20 2016, @02:24AM
Isn't the chair force moving to a drone majority anyway?
I guess you would have to make them semi-autonomous so the Ruskies can't just hack em.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 20 2016, @11:43AM
That's why Chair Force enlisted people have higher survival rates. Most of the casualties are officers.
(Score: 2) by tibman on Tuesday September 20 2016, @02:02PM
I'll bet more enlisted die in workplace accidents than officers die in combat.
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