Russian troops receiving T-14 Armata main battle tanks are hesitant to accept the deliveries because of their "poor condition," according to a new intelligence assessment.
On January 19, the British Ministry of Defense (MOD) said Moscow was likely weighing up whether to send a limited number of the new T-14 Armata main battle tanks to its troops on the Ukrainian front lines.
The ministry cited images of the T-14 Armata seen in southern Russia on December 23. The area in which the tanks were stationed "has been associated with pre-deployment activity for the Ukraine operation," the MOD said.
But the move would be "high-risk" for Kremlin forces, it added.
A program 11 years in the making, the development of the T-14 Armata was "dogged with delays, reduction in planned fleet size, and reports of manufacturing problems." A bigger and bulkier tank than others in Russia's possession, the T-14 Armata also poses logistical challenges.
If any of the relatively few available tanks were deployed, it would likely be most useful for "propaganda," the MOD argued, saying that Russian commanders "are unlikely to trust the vehicle."
In an updated intelligence post on Wednesday, the MOD referenced these reports, but suggested Russian forces "were reluctant to accept the first tranche of T-14 allocated to them because the vehicles were in such poor condition."
Although unable to go into detail on the precise reasons behind the unwillingness to utilize the new main battle tanks, the MOD pointed to concerns over the engines of the T-14s Armatas, as well as their thermal imaging systems.
The T-14 Armata was revealed for the first time in 2015 during the Red Square's Victory Day Parade. Preliminary tests on the T-14 began in 2019, and in April 2021, Russia's industry minister said they had been tested in "field conditions" in Syria.
This came shortly after Russia's defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, confirmed Russia's armed forces would receive a "pilot batch" of tanks in 2022. Shoigu's statement made it "unlikely that any deployed T-14 tanks will have met the usual standards for new equipment to be deemed operational," the British MOD said.
The T-14 Armata was described by the Russian state news service TASS as a tank that "fundamentally differs from its predecessors." The tank has an unmanned turret, meaning the crew is protected "in an isolated capsule in the tank's hull" and able to remotely control the tank's armaments.
This feature was highlighted in a leaked MOD briefing document from a senior army intelligence official, seen by The Telegraph in 2016.
The T-14 Armata is the "first time" that a fully automated, digitized and remotely-operated turret has been built into a main battle tank, with the crew shielded by armor in the hull, according to the unnamed official.
The official described the Armata as having "caused a sensation," adding: "Without hyperbole, Armata represents the most revolutionary step change in tank design in the last half century."
"As a complete package," the outlet quoted the paper as saying, "Armata certainly deserves its billing as the most revolutionary tank in a generation."
The tank's design has also been adapted to include a toilet within the vehicle, to avoid the need for soldiers to exit and expose themselves during combat.
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Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more
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