Cost of War Machines: Russian Armata vs US Abrams

The General Director of ‘Uralvagonzavod’ Corporation, Oleg Sienko, said that the cost to mass produce the T-14 Armata will be 250 million rubles (3.7 million dollars).

Earlier it was reported that the cost would be around 500 million rubles, but as Sienko explained those rumors were due to the fact that the production of one item is always much higher than mass production.

The cost of the Armata’s rival, the US Abrams M1A2 SEP, is estimated at 8.5 million dollars.

Russia's armed forces will have 2,300 tanks by 2025. The first experimental batch of tanks, which was constructed in a short time for the May 9 Victory Parade in Red Square, will be handed over to the army in 2016.

According to a member of the expert council of the Military-Industrial Commission, Victor Murakhovski, the T-14 Armata’s technical parameters considerably exceed its American rival.

“If you compare on paper specifications, the Armata’s firepower efficiency and armor protection exceeds Abrams by 30-40%. As for the price, it is necessary to consider that when purchasing the tank there is also set of ammunition, training aids, maintenance facilities, and crew training and so on. As a result, a tank would be much more expensive, if it was based on an individual piece of equipment,” Murakhovski explained.

He further elaborated, “The Abrams overall cost adds up to 10-11 million dollars. They are in service in the United States, Australia and some of them are present in Egypt. But the last modification of the so-called uranium armor is only available in the US.”

Regarding the innovation of the Armata, the expert said that the main thing today is the protection of the crew, its survival and the possibility of gaining combat experience.

“The unmanned turret on the Armata was made for one simple reason. Today the technical means of automatic target tracking and identification greatly exceeds the human capability. It is therefore not necessary for a person to perform such functions, as they are better performed by devices,” the military expert said.

According to him, Russian electronics mounted on combat vehicles demonstrate satisfactory reliability.

Earlier it was reported that Russia's cutting edge piece of military equipment would not remain static. Its designers said that the Armata could well become the world’s first unmanned tank.