Defense Intelligence of Ukraine reports: according to the available data, russia has about 20 T-14 Armata main battle tanks at its disposal, all of them from the prototype batch. Still, as of the end of 2023, the T-14 Armata had not passed state tests and had not been adopted by the russian army.
The information was shared in a statement on request from the ArmyInform military-themed media website.
Read more: Rostec Officially Admits T-14 Armata is for Parades, Not Real War
Journalists also add that despite the lag in the adoption procedures, the russian military-industrial complex continues to receive plans for the production of the T-14 Armata, which in fact are not fulfilled at all. For example, for 2023, russian manufacturers were assigned to produce 29 tanks of this series but in reality, not a single tank was made. The plan for 2024 is the same 29 vehicles.
In addition, Ukraine's Defense Intelligence specifies that the russian invasion forces have never used the T-14 Armata for combat operations against Ukraine.
On the part of Defense Express, let's point out that it's the first time an official source publicly reveals the number of T-14 Armata tanks the russians have at their disposal, as well as the confirmation that despite the efforts to convince otherwise, this tank has never seen real combat.
Besides, note how the myth about this "one-of-its-kind" russian tank continues to fall apart. For a reminder, in December 2023, the top management of the russian Rostec military-industrial conglomerate declared that their T-14 Armata is better than the Israeli Merkava, regardless of the fact Merkava has a long combat history while the only fact about Armata witnessed not on paper was its notorious engine breakdown during the military parade rehearsal in 2015.
Just a few weeks ago, the same Rostec officially admitted that the Armata tank is not for real war and will remain a parade tank because it's too expensive, and russian defense ministry is not interested in the project as it is no longer affordable.
And now it also turns out that the russian military industry did in fact receive plans for the production of the T-14 Armata last year, just could not get through with it, yet keeps hoping to revive the "most advanced tank" program.
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