New Russian Tank, Designed to Outclass Anything in Nato’s Arsenal, Breaks Down During Victory Day Parade Rehearsal

After Ilya Repin, Бурлаки на Волге [Barge-Haulers on the Volga], 1873, Russian State Museum, St. Petersburg.

The Telegraph reports on Mr. Putin’s embarrassing failure.

A new Russian tank announced with much fanfare as superior to Western machines stalled during a dress rehearsal for Victory Day celebrations in Moscow on Thursday.

The T-14 Armata, making only its second public appearance, ground to a halt on Red Square, opposite Vladimir Lenin’s mausoleum.

Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minster, was reportedly forced to approach the tank to find out what had happened; servicemen then tried to hook it up to another military vehicle and tow it away. …

The stalled tank – which was stationary for about 15 minutes – was an embarrassment for the military. Dmitry Rogozin, the deputy prime minister in charge of defence, called the T-14 “a beauty” earlier this week, and Russian experts have been lauding its superiority to Western rivals such as the US Abrams and British Challenger.

The T-14 Armata is to be the main battle tank of Russia’s ground forces, and 2,300 are expected to be produced for the army by 2020. It has a remotely-controlled turret with an automatic weapons loading system and an armoured capsule for the three-man crew.