T-14 Armata

[PanzerJaeger]

Dating back to the highly vaunted yet completely terrible T-34, Russian tanks have always been much better on paper than on the battlefield. They always check the right boxes to be competitive with Western AFVs, but never seem to come together in a way that matches the combat effectiveness of the latter. Russian AFVs have always been junk, I would be surprised if this one is any different.

What is more interesting is the strategic thinking behind putting the state's limited resources behind a new AFV platform so soon after the T-90 (which is still fairly new in MBT terms, despite its dated origins) and the Kurganets-25 (which is brand new). I'm guessing this is Russia's version of America's Stryker/F-35 programs... sold to leadership using the same language of affordability, modularity and cross-platform, multi-role performance without actually delivering on any of it. Meanwhile, the same tried and true Cold War designs will continue to soldier on in upgraded versions. I will be surprised if total production surpasses 500 by 2025, much less 2500.