State-of-the-Art Russian Weapons on Display During First Day of Army-2023

As the inaugural day of the 9th International military-technical forum Army-2023 wrapped up, Sputnik sums up the most impressive developments demonstrated at the event.

Russia's Army-2023 event kicked off on August 14 at Patriot Park in Kubinka, Moscow Oblast, bringing together thousands of people from all over the world and at least 28,000 military and dual-use goods.

Some of these military items have been developed on the basis of new battleground experience gained by the Russian Armed Forces during the special military operation in Ukraine.

The program of the forum consists of 250 events with a focus on the diversification of the military-industrial complex and the development of artificial intelligence technology. A whopping 80 foreign organizations are presenting their military goods alongside Russian arms-makers at the exhibition this year.

Addressing the participants of the forum, President Vladimir Putin stated that "Russia is open to deepening equal, technological partnership and military-technical cooperation with other countries, with all those who defend their national interests, their independent path of development."

"[Russia] considers it fundamentally important to build together an equal indivisible security system that would reliably protect each state," Putin said, adding that Russia also offers foreign companies to develop military-technological cooperation and proposes to develop cooperation in the training of personnel, military personnel and the organization of exercises.

New Protection for Armored Vehicles

Heavy armored vehicles call the shots at the show, having proven especially useful and efficient during the Russian special military operation in Ukraine. To the left of the main entrance, visitors could see the Russian main battle tanks T-90M, T-72B3, T-80BVM, T-64M, as well as infantry fighting vehicles BMP-3 and BMP-2 "Berezhok" lined up in a row.

The Tigr-M is a super-protected multipurpose all-terrain infantry mobility vehicle which makes a debut at the show. The vehicle's armor can withstand a 7.62 mm bullet and a close explosion of an artillery shell.

The military vehicles on display have additional protection against drones, taking into account the experience of the special military op.

Armata, Malva & BREM-T

Russian military manufacturers also demonstrate products that have yet to enter mass production: the T-14 Armata tank, the B-10 armored personnel carrier and the B-11 infantry fighting vehicle on the Kurganets-25 platform, as well as the Boomerang armored personnel carrier.

Russia's first wheeled 152-mm howitzer Malva debuts at the expo. The weapon is designed to destroy command posts, defensive structures, artillery, rocket and mortar batteries, air defense systems, columns of armored vehicles and enemy manpower.

Yet another novelty on display is the T-16 Armored Recovery Vehicle, also known as Armata ARV or BREM-T, developed on the basis of the universal Armata platform. The system can swiftly remove the wrecked equipment to the rear for repair. The T-16 crew doesn’t need to go outside to dock with a wrecked tank as the personnel gets an image from all-round cameras on special displays.

Automated Command and Control Systems

The upgraded automated command and control system (ACCS), the Polyana-D4M1, has been demonstrated at a military-technical forum for the first time.

Previously, the Polyana used to "manage" only long-range (S-300 type), medium-range (Buk type) and short-range (Tor and Tunguska type) anti-aircraft missile systems of the air defense forces.

The upgraded variant, the Polyana-D4M1, allows managing up to 14 objects simultaneously and provides protection for an area of 640,000 square kilometers. Up to 500 air objects can simultaneously be located in the airspace of the ACS-controlled area.

"The modernized Polyana-D4M1 is the latest promising system-forming complex of a multi-element combat information system. It is capable of providing reliable protection for both military formations, government facilities and industrial enterprises," Sergei Sakhnenko, the CEO of United Instrument Manufacturing Corporation, stated at the event.

New Unguided Aircraft Missiles

The Institute of Applied Physics (RAS) presents the latest unguided aircraft missile S-8KL with a cluster warhead for the first time.

"The unguided aircraft missile S-8KL has a cluster warhead which is filled with cumulative-fragmentation elements. There are 24 of them. This is a new development, the letter 'O' was assigned at the end of 2022," the designer's press service told Sputnik.

The new missile can be fired from standard launchers, as well as from intelligent B8V10-UV Rocket Pod. Thus, the new cluster unguided missile can be launched from all major types of helicopters and combat aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces.

Russia Masters Itself in Producing Drones

Unmanned vehicles obviously made a splash during the Ukraine conflict, prompting Russia to focus on the production of drones and anti-drone electronic warfare systems.

A plethora of UAVs by dozens of manufacturing companies are presented at the exhibition. One of them is the Supercam SX300H reconnaissance drone from the Unmanned Systems Group. The drone combines the advantages of aircraft and helicopter-type copters. Thus, the UAV can hover in the air, and then quickly change position and fly like a plane. Reportedly, Supercams have already been tested on the front lines.

For its part, the Gryphon-61T can hang in the air for up to seven days. The unhackable drone is an indispensable tool for reconnaissance.

ZALA Lancet-3 drone at an expo.

© Photo : ZALA Aero Group

The famous Lancet kamikaze drones are also on display at Army-2023. According to some, the Lancet manufacturer Zala is fixing to demonstrate a new version of the drone that operates in a swarm.

A drone swarm envisages a group of drones working together to achieve common goals. They have a number of advantages, including increased survivability on the battlefield, enhanced accuracy, better coverage, and adaptability. Drone swarms could be used for surveillance missions, targeting enemy troops and military assets, or overwhelming enemy air defenses.

Cutting-Edge Military Robots

Attacking, reconnaissance and sapper robots have also proven instrumental on the battlefield. These robots have been upgraded according to the experience gained during the special military operation. Sapper robots are especially useful given that both sides of the conflict are extensively using mines. The Ukrainian military has no scruples about mining residential areas or firing munitions-loaded Lepestok (Petal), scatterable high explosive anti-personnel land mines, into populous districts of cities.

NATO Weapons Not Superior to Russian Arms

Russia's weaponry demonstrated at the Army-2023 forum has once again shown that the nation's defense industry is by no means inferior to NATO's multi-billion dollar military-industrial complex. In fact, Ukraine's military units armed with NATO-grade weapons have failed to outperform their Russian peers.

"The West's widely-advertised technology has in fact turned out to be far from flawless. You can see this just for yourselves by looking at the exposition of captured weapons," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stated at the opening of the 9th international military-technical forum.

The Army-2023 exhibition is running until August 20. In addition to Russian military equipment, the Russian Defense Ministry will present captured equipment supplied by NATO to Ukraine.