Russian Army to receive new MBTs

The Russian Army will receive new-generation main battle tanks (MBT) in 2014-2020 as part of a large-scale rearmament of its military armoured units, Defence Ministry spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Vlasov has said.

“At present, Russian scientists are developing a new-generation tank, and in 2014-2020 we are planning to replace the current fleet with new tanks on a large scale, so that the new models will constitute 70% of the total,” he added.

The new MBT will feature enhanced firepower, manoeuvrability, electronics and armour protection capabilities over the T-90 MBT.

The defence ministry has not disclosed the type of the MBT for the replacement of the current fleet, however, Russian military experts believe that either the T-95 or the T-99 MBT will be selected for the project.

Currently, the Russian Army is equipped with T-72, T-80 and T-90 MBTs and their variants, according to RIA Novosti.

Russia’s existing state arms procurement programme aims to modernise T-72 tanks until 2014.

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