Damn, can't believe this thread was dead for a long time. Anyway:
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«Армата» дороговата: в правительстве признали, что новая платформа не станет массовой
Новые танки «Армата» получились дорогими, эффективнее модернизировать старую технику, заявил вице-премьер Юрий Борисов. Он также добавил, что огромным спросом на рынке пользуется Т-72www-bfm-ru.translate.goog
TLDR; as I was saying in an unrelated thread few months ago...for the Russians, now is not the time for expensive white elephant programs which may or may not become available in sufficient numbers a decade down the line. Now's the time for cheap, proven systems that require minimal, if any, changes to existing infrastructure, logistics & training regimens. To quote myself "less T-14s and more T-72B3s."
The tank wasn't ready then. And yes, the Russians preferred to dump money at proven systems rather than this white elephant. The Armata will become important during the rearmament that will happen around 2025 instead. We could easily expect 500+ vehicles supplied every year, perhaps even a thousand.
The article is politically motivated as well, 'cause the tank is frankly very scary to NATO. It renders all of their current anti-tank capabilities moot.
This also serves as an indication that Russians will not be in any shape to invest the required amounts in programs like T-14, Su-57, Su-75, S-500, etc. Which means for the foreseeable future, a lot of those programs can be effectively understood to be in cold storage. Limited series production at best.
@randomradio
Depends on the time frame we are talking about. Until the war is over, it's gonna have to be the old horses. Medvedev recently claimed they will manufacture 1500 new tanks this year, presumably T-90Ms. We could see that repeating next year or perhaps the year after, before production shifts to the new stuff.
In any case, if they build 1000-2000 tanks a year, then 100-200 Armatas a year will go unnoticed for some time.