CHANGE MORE OF THE SAME: Russian Can’t Afford To Give Its Next-Gen Battle Tanks to Most of its Army.

In 2015 the United States and NATO received a rude shock: The Russian Army unveiled a new main battle tank, known as T-14 Armata. Together with the T-15 heavy infantry fighting vehicle, which shares the same chassis as the T-14, the two armored giants would replace older T-72 tanks and BMP infantry fighting vehicles in Russian service, many of which dated back to the Cold War.

Three years later, reality has set in. Russian defense contractor Uralvagonzavod, maker of the T-90 main battle tank (itself an evolution of the Cold War-era T-72), ran into development troubles with the Armata platform. At the same time Russia’s defense budget, after years of increases, is facing cuts in large part due to the state of the Russian economy.

Russia originally planned to purchase 2,300 T-14 Armatas (and a similar number of T-15 heavy infantry fighting vehicles) by 2025. Armatas cost $4 million apiece, making a total purchase approximately $9.2 billion just for the tanks. The high cost has Russia changing its tune, cutting the Armata purchase to rely instead on older [but modernized] T-72 and T-90 tanks.

The Armata looks good on papers, and even on parade. But it looks like Moscow will only get enough of them for a small parade.