The 11-year development program for the T-14 Armatas "has been dogged with delays, reduction in planned fleet size, and reports of manufacturing problems," the British Defense Ministry wrote on Twitter on January 19, 2023. Moscow's troops have started using the Armata tanks to fire on Ukrainian positions, a Russian state news agency reported. NATO nations are sending dozens of state-of-the-art battle tanks to Ukraine, a move Russia has described as a dangerous escalation of the conflict.A Russian T-14 Armata tank participates in a Victory Day Parade night rehearsal on Tverskaya street on in Moscow, Russia. The Kremlin ordered production of 2,300 of the tanks by 2020, but this was later stretched to 2025, according to Russian media reports. “Eleven years in development, the programme has been dogged with delays, reduction in planned fleet size, and reports of manufacturing problems.” “Production is probably only in the low tens while commanders are unlikely to trust the vehicle in combat,” the British military said. It also said any deployment of the T-14 would likely be “a high-risk decision” for Russia and one taken primarily for propaganda purposes. In January, British military intelligence reported Russian forces in Ukraine were reluctant to accept the first tranche of the tanks because of their “poor condition”. The tanks have a maximum speed on the highway of 80 kilometres per hour (50mph), the agency said. The T-14 tank has an unmanned turret, and its crews remotely control the armaments from “an isolated armoured capsule located in the front of the hull”, RIA reported. The tanks have been fitted with extra protection on their flanks, and crews have undergone “combat coordination” at training grounds in Ukraine, RIA on Tuesday quoted an unnamed source close to the matter as saying. Russia has begun using its new T-14 Armata battle tanks to fire on Ukrainian positions “but they have not yet participated in direct assault operations”, the RIA state news agency reports.
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