Mike E

I have a few gripes with the B2; it didn't include a CITV, and it didn't add a more powerful engine. In all fairness, the B3 doesn't either. 

Information on the new, fully electric, 2E58 gun stabilzer. About time we start hearing about it.

http://gurkhan.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/258.html?m=1

Who needs stealthy or capable, when you have beautiful... FB-23 ain't too bad either.

I really wonder if Russia would make a Su-34-strikified version of PAK-FA, seeing that the Su-24 still needs to wiped out, and the -34 won't last forever.

Who needs FB-23 when you have... 

I have different info on Bulats. Any links?

The quote was something like "Bulats from 2009 & 10 still haven't been paid for completely".

It's a good way of sending the defense budget into the abyss, that's for sure.

AFAIK a lot of the Bulats are still unpaid for. We're talking long term payments that Morozov/Kharkiv can't live on.

Ukroboronprom says 40 Oplot-M's will be produced total this year, though the number is estimated to be 15. It'll be interesting to see how the 140 Oplot-M plan works out. Who would buy them? 

The blog post has been edited; http://thesovietarmourblog.blogspot.com/2015/05/t-72-soviet-progeny.html

Most of the changes look to be with the T-72B's armor. 

Good point, I didn't think about that.

Says FTA.

Heck, what they linked said "Su-27".

Don't take this as being accurate, but I tried to estimate a few of the possible armor thickness for T-14 ('s main composite, not the glacis/LFP); 

This assumes that the armor is situated like; exterior Glacis -> spacing -> thick composite (which is the focus). Paralay's example is of a good ol thick glacis and LFP. 

Black outlines the crew capsule, obviously. I think that it is pretty easy to see its' size based on the recent internal pictures, and exterior lines as well. TC & Gunner sit just rear of the left hatch on their location of their head, actual location would be almost directly below. 

Their are two shown (possible) layouts; black to red (600 mm), and black to light blue (865 mm). The figures are based off of a comparison between the TC hatch and 700 mm road-wheel (I got ~500 mm for the hatch), and then pixel based from there (used a side shot to compare black-red and black-blue to road-wheel...it's a matter of multiplying by the #/700 mm via pixels.). I expect these figures to be +- 50 mm accurate, with the obvious issue of everything being unconfirmed (could be a completely different layout, for all I know). 

If that's all it is, then the hatch is very big for electronic equipment...lol

I wouldn't be surprised if that is what it is, but IMO we'll need to wait and see.

I think this was discussed on Otvaga, but using Google Translate really makes things hard to understand;

...is that a hatch to the ammunition compartment? Looks like it IMO. 

You are all wrong, the tarp makes the entire tank invisible to thermal, TV, and visual channels.

It doesn't solve the issues, it makes them worse. Basically the thing has no mobility, and rumor says an attempt to improve the suspension has failed.

Oh, so NOW they come out with a number. I always laughed at WMSM for claiming Russia was going to get 2,300 Armata's by 2020...bollocks

250-300 million Rubles is very low considering how devalued it is. I expected closer to 350 million, to be honest.

I remember hearing a quote that claimed it could engage APFSDS. If Afganit uses an EFP munition, and can intercept projectiles that are around ~ 1700 m/s fast, it will have no trouble against APFSDS.

Not talking about the MERA/modules, rather the"base" armor itself. 

Compare these two images; 

and...

(Both of which have been posted here already, as I'm sure you'll remember.)

And then skip to 40:15 (18:27 shows the same thing) on the Armata video (I suck at screenshots, especially on a mac);

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCGdvMkDlVc

That to me seems like 3 different variations of roof armor, and they also look to have different thicknesses. 

Hatches also look a bit thicker, to my eye. 

Something is really starting to drive me nuts... Some T-14's have roof armor that have three layers of steel, and two layers of something else, maybe ceramics. Other T-14's (like the one in the Zvezda video) have a single layer of "something else" sandwiched with steel...and some have what appear to be one thick layer of just steel.

Why would there be so many different variants of roof armor? Outside of being produced at a different time, I am clueless.

They have already shown more than what the NATO showed about their tanks in 30 years.

Well, kind of true...but we didn't hear a thing about the composite, specifics about Afganit etc. We just "saw" a few things, without actually gaining knowledge on them. 

LOL ^ I noticed that too 

Too bad Zvezda videos are always low-quality, it's better than nothing I guess. One thing I enjoyed was the subtle censoring, like of some components in the plant. 

A lot of in-depth information was skipped over as well. Best to keep it secret, I guess.

I was just going to talk about this ^ 

It was a good old NERA upgrade kit, absent of any ceramics. Iraq had problems producing steel, never-mind ceramics. 

Well, ugh...Pakistan got a new Oplot-M for testing? 

I'm not sure what this is; either Pakistan is getting a new unit, or they are sending the broken down (?) unit back to Ukraine. 

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/russias-armata-t-14-tank-vs-americas-m-1-abrams-who-wins-13825

(Sorry in advance) 

From my understanding of things, US corporate profits are higher than ever even when adjusted for inflation. I think if corporations payed more into the system then you can give living wages to those adults living on minimum wage or something to that effect. 

 

The obvious solution is for the US to start annexing overseas tax havens. 

Doesn't mean they generate enough revenue to support the entire population; nor would they be willing to do so. 

We're talking about outsourcing en mass, even with government intervention. 

Not sure what you are trying to say with; "everything that could be brought over already was".