Russia's new Armata, already billed by its manufacturer as the world's best combat tank, has gotten even better after receiving a next-generation cloak of armored tiles that an unidentified source in the military-industrial complex told news agency TASS on Monday has "no world analogues."
Armata is Russia's newest battle tank, and represents a big step up from Soviet designs currently in use. It was formally unveiled as part of Russia's blowout Victory Day Parade on May 9, though some details about the tank, such as its armor, have been kept under tight wraps.
According to an unidentified Russian defense industry source quoted by TASS, Armata's armor "can be considered next-generation [armor], it surpasses the reactive protection of Kontakt-5 and Relikt," referring to types of reactive armor currently found on Russian tanks such as the older T-72s and T-90s.
Reactive armor typically consists of special explosive tiles plastered along a tank's hull to provide extra protection against anti-tank rockets and enemy tank shells. The tiles explode outward to deflect the incoming projectiles, protecting the tank from damage.
The source did not give a name for the new armor type or provide specific details about its composition and characteristics that might help compare Armata's futuristic armor to types used by Western tanks.
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