Russia's T-14 Armata could become the world's first fully robotic battle tank

Russia publicly unveiled its high-tech T-14 Armata battle tank at a 70th Victory Day parade in May, celebrating the Allies' defeat of Nazi Germany. The Armata, expected to be the centerpiece of Russia's ground forces for years if not decades, is full of cutting-edge technology, both offensive and defensive — "For the crew, it's like playing a video game," Ilya Demchenko, one of the tank's designers, tells The Associated Press. And it has room to grow.

"New technologies built into the Armata could make it possible in the future to build a fully robotic vehicle that would operate autonomously on the battlefield," says AP's Vladimir Isachenkov, citing Armata chief designer Andrei Terlikov.

Currently, the Armata is fitted with a standard 125 mm cannon, but its weapons are aided by a digital control system that tracks targets, directs the Armata's movements — it has a pioneering remote-controlled turret, for example — and automatically deploys the tank's defenses, which include a new kind of armor protected by a reactive layer that defensively explodes when hit by a projectile.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

If NATO is nervous about the Armata, it won't be alone. Moscow will eventually sell the tank to "our traditional partners: India, China, and Southeast Asia," said Vladimir Kozhin, an aide to President Vladimir Putin, according to Russian media. You can read more about the Armata at AP.