The American publication 19FortyFive did not believe that the Russian military was talking about the T-14 Armata.
"It is doubtful that the new vehicle was deployed in Syria in 2020. If she entered the Middle East theater of operations, she probably did not participate in the fighting. The Russians also boasted of a new tactic of using armored vehicles developed in Syria, which the T-14 is expected to be able to use. However, tank experts were not impressed by this "new" tactic," the publication says.
The publication from the USA notes that the main gun of the Russian tank "may be better than [a similar gun] from the German Leopard 2."
"Meanwhile, the program of American M1 Abrams tanks developed during the development of the T-14. The new Abrams variants will have laser rangefinders, color cameras and laser radiation warning systems. Thus, the delays with the T-14 allowed the Americans to catch up, and both tanks will still have to constantly improve the way they identify and destroy targets, as well as improve their shooting, movement and communication capabilities," 19FortyFive assures.
The publication admits that the Russian tank is not an element of the "real game", but only a "paper tiger".
In March, Alexander Mikhailov, director of the Bureau of Military-Political Analysis, noted that in the future the T-14 ARMATA will become a more formidable weapon than the T-90M Breakthrough. The expert noted that the T-14 "Armata" and T-90M "Breakthrough", in particular, have the same multilayer turret module with a 125-millimeter gun. Mikhailov is sure that the second machine, the "fighting machine of today", anticipates the appearance of the first, the "tank of the future".
In February, the Izvestia newspaper, citing sources in the Russian Defense Ministry, reported that the T-14 ARMATA would be used as a headquarters on the battlefield.
In July 2018, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov noted that the country's armed forces do not seek to massively purchase T-14 ARMATA tanks because of their high cost, preferring to increase the combat potential of existing military equipment through its modernization.
Ivan Potapov