In recent years, the situation with the provision of the Russian army with modern samples of armored equipment has sharply aggravated. Information from the offices of the Ministry of Defense has become available to the public, and ordinary Russians understand that in the field of weapons, despite all the positive forecasts of the authorities, there is a real problem and, moreover, a very serious one. First of all, this is due to the lack of interest of the Russian military themselves in domestic production, which was expressed in the critical statements of the Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces Postnikov about the T-90 tank and its modifications. An equally significant problem is that in Russia there is actually one enterprise left - Uralvagonzavod (UVZ), which produces tanks to ensure not only the domestic market, but also export supplies.
The production of the T-90 tank in an improved version of the T-90A for supplies to the Russian army was restored after a long hiatus only in 2004. In the period 2004-2007, a total of 94 T-90A tanks were manufactured for the Russian Ministry of Defense, and in 2007 a three-year contract was signed for the production of 189 T-90A tanks in 2008-2010 at UVZ for the rearmament of the Russian army. It should be noted that with the oversaturation of the tank fleet in Russia, the acquisition of the T-90A was made in order to maintain the gradually dying tank production at UVZ. When the three-year contract expired, quite serious disagreements arose between UVZ and the Russian Ministry of Defense on the issue of further purchases of the T-90A, but the management of UVZ was eventually able to lobby for an order for the manufacture and supply of an additional batch of T-90A tanks for the period of 2011.
At this point in time, the T-90A in its current modernized form should be considered not quite in line with modern requirements for armored combat vehicles. The tank has a low-power (by modern standards) engine - 1000 hp, as well as an outdated transmission, insufficient protection, outdated fire control and surveillance systems, a gun that does not meet modern requirements, does not have an individual tank information control system. Changes have not been made to such a vulnerable spot of all tanks of the T-72 family, as the location of ammunition. Also, on the serial T-90A, even some quite reliable and well-tested modern technical solutions were not used. The improvement of the T-90 was carried out for the most part sluggishly, for which it is necessary to consider both UKBTM and UVZ, and the Ministry of Defense, equally guilty.
Recently, Uralvagonzavod has stepped up work on the development of a new modernized version of the tank based on the T-90, designated the T-90AM. In the modernized version, the tank received a new turret with a modern automatic loader with the placement of most of the ammunition in a separate aft niche, completely new observation and fire control devices, improved protection, as well as a new 125-mm 2A82 cannon. In 2009, a prototype T-90AM was created, which was tested and refined, but the position of the Ministry of Defense in relation to it is still uncertain, and there is no exact confidence that the new vehicle will enter service.
For a long period of time, the future of Russian tank building was associated with the creation of a completely new generation tank "Object 195" by the designers of the UKBTM, in fact, this is a fundamentally new design. The crew of this combat vehicle is housed in an isolated compartment (capsule) of the hull, the remote location of the weapons is 152-mm and 30-mm cannons, modern surveillance and fire control systems, an individual tank information and control system, engines of advanced types, and active protection systems. The prototypes of the tank were tested, but at the end of 2010 the R&D program was stopped by the Russian Ministry of Defense under the pretext of the exorbitant cost and complexity of the tank.
After the curtailment of the program for the development of "object 195", the UKBTM began developing, by order of the military department, a "heavy unified platform" called "Armata" on the basis of constructive developments on the topic of "object 195". A new main tank weighing about 50 tons, using most of the structural elements used at the "object 195", should be taken as the basis of the "platform". In addition, on the basis of the new "platform" it is planned to create a number of vehicles, including heavy armored infantry fighting vehicles and others. The readiness of the new "Armata" is expected only after 2015.
The serious problems that Russian tank builders face in future work include a lack of funds and the lack of a tank diesel engine with a minimum power of more than 1000 hp mastered in production. and a serious lag in the creation of a number of electro-optical complexes. In general, it is quite obvious that the Russian tank building is in dire need of a kind of qualitative breakthrough in terms of creating a new and modern generation of heavy armored vehicles, not only for the domestic but also for the foreign market. Such a breakthrough can only be ensured by bringing the T-90AM tank and later the Armata platform to mass production in a fairly short time.
If Russia is trying to decide on the production of heavy armored vehicles, then with the production of light armored vehicles there is no clear path in the development of production. Unfortunately, it is necessary to recognize the fact that Russia lags far behind the world level in the area of proposals and developments in this area. Most of the responsibility lies with the Department of Defense, but the developers themselves should not be relieved of that responsibility. Both the military and the developers have shown that they are unable not only to track, but also to correctly perceive the existing global trends in the development of light armored vehicles. The first attempts to overcome this gap were made in 2009. As a result, there is a frank narrowness and low competitiveness of the current serial proposals of the domestic defense industry in the field of light and medium armored vehicles. In fact, at the moment they are limited to two types - the wheeled armored personnel carrier BTR-80 and the BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle, which are technically at the same level as when they were created 25 years ago. The common technical feature of both of these types of combat vehicles is weak security and low modernization potential.
A tangible lag in Russia is also observed in the creation of modern fire control and surveillance systems for armored vehicles, combat information and control systems for armored vehicles, specifically and in general for decisions on the battlefield. For a long time, there were no proposals in our country for modern weapon systems for armored vehicles - remote-controlled turrets with fire control and surveillance systems that work regardless of the time of day. It is indicative that the first prototypes of such turrets, which became the standard for light armored vehicles in the West, were demonstrated in our country only in 2009.
The production of the BMP-3 to meet the needs of the Russian Ministry of Defense was resumed at the KMZ only in 2005, and by 2010 the Russian military acquired more than 300 new production vehicles. Obviously, production for the rearmament of the Russian army will continue for several more years at a level of no more than 60-80 units per year.
At KMZ (the city of Kurgan), extensive work was carried out to improve the BMP-3, which included the creation of a variant of the BMP-3M and equipping the vehicle with additional armored plates and complexes of passive and active protection. Its various options for the marines have also been created - BMMP and BMP-3F. At the same time, the BMP-3M is not currently being produced either for the rearmament of the Russian army or for export.
Today, the BMP-3 design is clearly outdated. A specific feature of all existing types of domestic infantry fighting vehicles is a relatively low level of protection, taking into account mobility and firepower. The developers saw an increase in the degree of protection of the BMP-3 mainly due to the introduction of active and dynamic protection systems. In reality, until now, the introduction of such protection systems on the outdated BMP-3 has not been implemented in operation. As a result, combat BMP-3s have probably the weakest level of protection and armor among all modern types of BMPs in the world. Currently, under an agreement with the Ministry of Defense, R&D is underway to develop a more secure vehicle on the Kurganets-25 theme with a total combat weight of more than 25 tons, but such a vehicle is expected to enter service with the Russian army after 2015.
The production of the BTR-80, which remains the key type of domestic light wheeled armored vehicles, at AMZ (the city of Arzamas) has been going on since 1986. After 2000, purchases for domestic customers increased and reached 200-250 vehicles per year. The BTR-80 and its subsequent versions must be considered frankly outdated, given the weak booking, insufficient mine protection, insufficient power density, not the most successful layout and internal tightness. Their only important advantage is their extremely low price. At AMZ, work is underway to modernize the BTR-80, but they do not make serious changes to its combat qualities and are limited only to improving certain technical characteristics. So, in 2010, the Ministry of Defense purchased the BTR-80M with an upgraded engine, and at the end of 2010, modifications of the BTR-82 and BTR-82A were purchased with an even more powerful power unit, the introduction of weapon stabilization, and some increased protection.
So far, the main promising product of AMZ in the field of wheeled armored personnel carriers is the 21-ton BTR-90 "Rostok", but its tests have been going on since the beginning of the 90s, and the modifications made by the designers do not meet the requirements of the military. The BTR-90 is distinguished by a significantly increased level of protection, power of the power unit and firepower. At the same time, the BTR-90 practically retained the layout with the location of the engine in the rear, which makes the landing of troops difficult and complicates the task of creating special-purpose combat vehicles on its basis. As a result, the Ministry of Defense refused to purchase a batch of BTR-90 in its current form. Instead of producing and improving the BTR-90 model, AMZ initiated work on BTR models with an 8x8 wheel arrangement and having a rear landing exit, improved protection and a modern modular layout. Since about 2005, the plant has been working on the creation of a combat vehicle codenamed "Sleeve", but recently, by order of the Ministry of Defense, a promising medium-class wheeled platform "Boomerang" with a mass of 25 tons is being developed.
The disadvantage of all designs of light armored vehicles created in Russia over the past two decades is their low mine protection, and serial LBMs with enhanced anti-explosive and anti-mine protection are now completely absent in the arsenal of the Russian army. It is because of the lack of such domestic equipment that the Russian Ministry of Defense decided to fill the gap by purchasing the Italian LME Iveco LMV, which have enhanced mine protection.
Only in the last few years, Russian developers have begun to carry out their own R&D to create domestic vehicles with enhanced anti-explosive and mine protection (such as MRAP). In 2009, VPK LLC presented a prototype of a 12-ton armored vehicle of the MRAP class SPM-3 “Medved” and a series of lightweight armored vehicles “Wolf” of a modular installation. True, it must be admitted that the mine protection installed on the first machines of the "Wolf" series looks clearly insufficient, which necessitated the development of its new modified versions. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, which finances R&D for light armored vehicles of the Antigradient class (full-fledged MRAP) and Ansyr (light armored car). Finally, in the interests of the Ministry of Defense, the development of a completely new wheeled platform of the light class "Typhoon" has begun. But, it is obvious that the development and bringing of all the listed machines and projects to launch into mass production should be expected only in a few years.
The problem of Russia, connected with the provision of its own weapons with modern samples of armored equipment, can be solved only if the government adopts state programs aimed at the development of the domestic defense industry. Otherwise, there is a high degree of probability that in a few years our tankers will operate German Leopards and Italian Iveco LMVs, which by that time will become obsolete both in combat terms and technically.
