A viral video showing Russia’s T-14 Armata battle tank has ignited speculation about whether the weapon will be deployed in Syria.

One can assume that Russia will be hesitant to deploy the T-14 against Ukraine, as the latter has intensified its ground offensive after recapturing Kherson. There has been speculation that the next-generation T-14 Armata tank has been deployed for combat in Ukraine after a video of the tank was posted on the internet.

Footage of the T-14 Armata tank being operated at one of the Russian Federation’s training grounds was released on Nov. 20. According to local Russian media, the facility is a mobilized military personnel training center. A previous video showed Russian troops walking on a paved road while a T-14 Armata tank slogged through mud. However, this new video shows the same tank trundling through mud while troops walk beside it on a concrete road.

In early October, a video of the T-14 Armata tank was reportedly filmed at a training ground in Kazan, the capital of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan. Some Russian media outlets alleged that the tank was seen near the village of Midginskaya in Luhansk at the time.

Military watchers and cybernauts tracking the conflict closely wondered whether the latest video would bring the new tank to battle.

The T-14 tank is still undergoing field testing, however. Because the ongoing war has become a testing ground for many new weapon systems, speculation about the tank’s deployment is rampant.

Keeping advanced and novel technology away from battle is believed to be Russia’s motive for not introducing these tanks to the battlefield.

The T-14 battle tank, which has reportedly been sighted in videos of the battle for Aleppo, may have been upgraded based on lessons learned from the ongoing war, in which Russia has lost hundreds of tanks.

The Armata is so costly that even if it were to be destroyed in battle, it would be excessively costly. Russian media report that upgrading the T-72 to the B3 version costs 350 million rubles, seven times as much, making it prohibitively expensive to lose it in combat.

According to the Ukraine Ministry of Defense, Russia lost 2,886 tanks between Feb. 24 and Nov. 20. Ukraine has employed anti-tank weapons, drones, and rockets to destroy the T-72 and T-90s that have been overwhelmingly deployed by Russia in the ongoing conflict.

The Ministry of Defense deemed that there was no need to rush large batches of Armatas based on the VPK Defence Magazine’s statement that the vehicle was prohibitively expensive. Because of this, the Ministry of Defense decided to focus on the T-72, T-80, and T-90 tanks, which possessed a considerable modernization potential dating back to the Soviet era. The vehicle initially looked more than innovative and aroused explosive interest.”

In light of that background, Russia might be reluctant to send the T-14 to war with Ukraine, as the latter has intensified the ground offensive after retaking Kherson.

Watch the clip below: 

https://twitter.com/Thelast05015969/status/1594342954780561408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1594342954780561408%7Ctwgr%5E23fd5d93fb1185bddbd6e7a92db95ce154a5b4bd%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Feurasiantimes.com%2Frussias-t-14-armata-tanks-caught-in-action-on-camera%2F

The T-14 Armata, Russia’s Elite Tank

The T-14 Armata was developed by UralVagonZavod, a Rostec state-owned Russian defense company. It was first displayed at the Moscow Victory Day Parade in May 2015.

The ‘Armata’ Universal Combat Platform, a platform for large military-tracked vehicles of the next generation, is used to build tanks. Additionally, it can be used to create larger armored vehicles, such as armored personnel carriers and large infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) (APCs).

The T-14 has three sections: a hull with three crew members at the front, an unmanned, remote-controlled weapons turret station in the middle, and a power plant at the back. The tank commander sits on the right, the driver on the left, and there are three hatches in the front of the hull. An armored capsule holds the three-person crew.

The T-14 Armata tank has an active protection system to defend against anti-tank rockets, advanced sensors, data networking, and extensive automation.

The T-14 Armata is armed with a 125mm 2A82-1M automatic loader smoothbore gun with an unmanned turret. The turret holds 45 rounds of ammo, 32 of which are ready for use. Laser-guided missiles with a range of seven to twelve kilometers, among other things, are launched as the primary weapon.

According to reports, the Armata tank appears to have been developed by Russia to outgun NATO tanks by emphasizing quality over quantity. However, the production of the T-14 Armata tank has stalled for some time, and the Russian military has reduced the number of tanks required by several units.

In the beginning, Moscow expressed a desire to acquire 2,300 Armatas by 2025, which would have cost $4 million each. However, by 2020, the Russian army decided to update its present tanks rather than purchase new ones, and the number was lowered to 132. Russia has been attempting to sell this tank internationally in full swing.