Since then he has written hundreds of articles on Soviet and Russian military technology. James has researched Russian military hardware following his first visit to the Soviet Union in 1973. James Kinnear was born in the UK in 1959. Whether the development T-14 ‘Armata’ will become a series, albeit limited production tank, or remain a technical showpiece has yet to be seen, but there is no doubt that it has made the impression it was intended to The ‘Armata’ is a showpiece of military engineering, but the upgrade of earlier T-72, T-80 and T-90 tanks is now being pursued in parallel as a more cost-effective solution for everyday needs. However, the tank is however expensive to build and maintain compared to the T-90 and T-72B3 MBT types and requires significant crew training compared with other tank types. The T-14 is technically sophisticated and the first with a fully automated turret entirely devoid of a crew as one of many new design features. After years of making do with updating Soviet-era tanks, the T-14 ‘Armata’ is the first genuinely new post-Soviet Russian design. The appearance of the T-14 ‘Armata’ was for Western observers as much a revelation as the IS-3 heavy tank that made a shock appearance in the Victory Parade in Berlin in September 1945. The T-14 ‘Armata’ Main Battle Tank (MBT) made its public debut in May 2015, at a time of renewed tensions between Russia and the United States and its NATO allies. The perfect companion if you are building Takom or Zvezda kits! Packed with 150 full-colour photos over 80 landscape pages, this is a must-have reference for modern armour modellers and covers the T-14’s design, development and features full walk-around photographic coverage.

Russian armour guru James Kinnear looks at Russia’s revolutionary new T-14 main battle tank.

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