When the Deputy General Director of JSC “NPK Uralvagonzavod Vyacheslav Khalitov said that the development of a new generation of tanks “Armata” is planned to be completed in 2015, and in 2016 to run them in serial production, many smiled slyly, sensing his words nothing more than bragging rights.
Well, after the incident with the idling of one of the “Armat” in red square during a rehearsal of the Victory Parade, many in the West already did not hide their Schadenfreude: the Russians take us on a fright, a tank is still “raw”, and Ukrainian propagandists even declared that he’s made of cardboard…
And that’s not yet been a year since, when “Armata” was first demonstrated at the Victory Parade, as the American edition The National Interest has to state a fact that became for the West an unpleasant surprise: a new “deadly Russian tank” is already in mass production.
While most Western military analysts believed that the new Russian tank is only in the development stage and at the Victory Parade were shown only an experimental model, Russia managed to successfully launch it into mass production, despite the current economic difficulties. The head of the state Corporation “rostec” Sergey Chemezov has recently made an official statement that the latest Russian tank “already in production”.
According to Chemezov, Russia not going to back down from earlier plans for the implementation of this project, despite budget cuts because of falling oil prices: “it is Impossible to retreat when already halfway there. The money is already invested, and if we stop without completing the job, it will be wasted money. All of that has already begun will be completed, and the money it will be allocated”.
Well, what do you plan to meet Western opponents?
Just saying that they are seriously disturbed and only start to think of the answer to the Russian challenge. So, the Germans have already started in a hurry work on raising the firepower of his “Leopard-2”, planning to equip its 130-millimetrovie the gun. In addition, the plans of the Germans to start in the near future the development of a new main battle tank under the provisional name “the Basic ground combat system (MGCS)…
What about the other NATO members? The others are still silent: still can’t believe that “Armata” is already in the series, or can’t go forward from this unpleasant message.
And, maybe, do you weigh in your mind how it will be easier to buy new tanks from Russia than to develop and produce their own?
