This is the nearest equivalent to the Lockheed F-35, the US’s top-of-the-range jet. In terms of the latest models, the Russian aerospace force seems to have used the Sukhoi Su-57, Russia’s only stealth fighter, in combat at least once. Then again, we have not seen it quite as dominant as expected in battle either. So we did not get to see Russia’s “aerospace force”, as it is called, in full panoply. Moving away from the ground the Victory Day air display was cancelled due, it was said, to the weather – although it was bright and clear in Moscow that day. The Uran-9 is probably a decade or more from being an effective weapons system. It also appears to have been tested in Syria, where there were serious issues with the remote control systems, which were apparently unable to find or hit enemy targets at anything like a useful range. This is designed to work without an operator on roads or, in more difficult terrain, as a remotely controlled tank. Trundling after the tanks and assorted armoured vehicles on the parade was the Uran-9 autonomous combat vehicle. Field reports say these autonomous vehicles are often unable to find their targets. Russia’s Uran-9 unmanned combat ground vehicle in May 2021. If all goes according to plan – rare enough in any military procurement programme – this tank will begin full-scale production this year, too late for this phase of the war in Ukraine. As if technical problems were not enough, the company making the Armata is in financial trouble. Credible Russian reports indicate that the programme is suffering problems with production and complexity and “is a hostage to the many new technologies in it”. The trouble from the Russian army perspective is that there are very few of these tanks available.

It is a significant advance over all previous Russian tanks, which were and are adaptations of old Soviet designs. Western analysts have been poring with some degree of trepidation over this system since 2015 when the tank first appeared. Most prominent among them was the T-14 Armata. The weaponry looked good on the parade ground – but how well are Russia’s high-tech weapons performing on the battlefield?Īs always in Russia’s Victory day parade, tanks and armoured vehicles took centre stage. Every year, the May 9 Victory Day parade in Moscow showcases the latest in Russian weapons systems – and this year’s, of course, had special meaning.

What is modern russian tank