Tank War: America's M1 Abrams Tank vs. Russia's New T-14 Armata (Who Wins?)

TNI Staff

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In terms of conventional armor, the Armata is still believed to be a slightly less well protected than an M1A2 Abrams or Leopard 2 judging by its weight of around fifty to sixty tons. (For comparison, an M1 weighs seventy tons). A maximum thickness of 1200mm to 1400mm RHA equivalent versus HEAT warheads has been claimed in Russian sources for the ceramic armor plates. That seems effective against the TOW-2A’s 900 millimeters of RHA penetration, but there’s no telling how even the armor protection is across the turret and hull—(there’s some speculation the turret will be notably more vulnerable) and whether those figures are accurate. In any case, the TOW-2B will still likely find the top armor vulnerable.

Much has been written when it comes to Russia's new supposed super tank, the Armata T-14. To be clear, the T-14 is actually part of something called "The Armata Universal Combat Platform." This consists of the T-14 main battle tank, the T-15 heavy infantry fighting vehicle and the T-16 armored recovery vehicle, among a host of other vehicles.

(This article originally appeared several years ago and is being republished due to reader interest.)

While early reports concerning the new tank seem to indicate some strong capabilities, how would the new Russian vehicle perform on the battlefield? Would it dominate against the competition or is it simply a paper tiger? 

And then we have the obvious question: how would it perform against America's best tank, the popular M1 Abrams? Would the Abrams be able to win a fire fight against the new Russian tank? Or would Moscow hold the advantage? 

Then there is the question of how Moscow's new weapon of war would do against various anti-tank weapons, for example, the TOW missile.

To answer some of these questions, below for your reading pleasure, we have packaged together Dave Majumdar and Sebestian Roblin's latest work on this subject together, published several months ago, for your reading pleasure. Let the debate begin. 

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