MOSCOW. April 14 (Interfax) - A pilot batch of T-14 Armata tanks will be delivered to the Russian Armed Forces in 2022, and the Defense Ministry will decide on the amount of such tanks it would buy based on the results of the trials, Andrei Yelchaninov, first deputy board chairman of the Russian Military-Industrial Commission, said in an interview.
"The first pilot Armata combat vehicles will be delivered to the Armed Forces for trials in 2022. This would help determine the forms of their employment and eliminate possible design and production flaws," Yelchaninov said in an interview published in Rossiiskaya Gazeta.
"Based on the results of these trials, the Defense Ministry will decide on the number of vehicles to be purchased. I think this decision will be incorporated into a new state armaments program," he said.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on March 4 that the delivery of a pilot batch of armored vehicles based on the Armata platform, namely T-14 tanks, T-15 armored fighting vehicles, and T-16 armored recovery and repair vehicles, was planned in 2022.
Rostec CEO Sergei Chemezov and Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov earlier announced the start of serial deliveries of armored vehicles based on the Armata platform in 2021.
Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko said in August 2018 that 132 T-14 tanks and T-15 armored fighting vehicles were to be delivered to the Armed Forces before the end of 2021.
Yury Borisov, currently deputy prime minister, said earlier, while serving as deputy defense minister, that the Defense Ministry had a contract for the delivery of two battalions of T-14 tanks and one battalion of T-15 armored fighting vehicles for operational trials.
The T-14 is the world's only tank of the third post-war generation. In the opinion of military experts, Armata is a new dawn in the tank building industry, which has no analogues in the world. This is a brand new, fully Russian product. The T-14 has an uninhabited turret, and its crew is seated in an armored capsule separated from the ammo compartment for the first time ever.
The unmanned version of Russia's T-14 Armata tank has been tested, but this tank was designed as hardware operated by a crew, Uralvagonzavod's spokesperson told Interfax earlier.
"Uralvagonzavod specialists tested a T-14 tank in unmanned mode, including its capabilities to move along the set route, reach a firing position, as well as automatically lock in on a target and destroy it. The T-14 tank was developed as a crewed vehicle, and its operation in uncrewed mode is a separate, special task," the spokesperson said.