The T-15 Armata, with industrial designation "Object 149", is a Russian heavy infantry fighting vehicle first seen in public (initially with its turret covered) in 2015 during rehearsals for the Moscow Victory Day Parade. The T-15 is expected to replace the BMP-2 and MT-LB based platforms of the Russian Ground Forces.

The Russian T-15 is based on the T-14 tank hull, with its engine relocated to the front to accommodate a passenger compartment in the rear, which adds the engine as a type of shield against frontal hits; passenger capacity is estimated at between seven and nine troops. At 48 tons, the vehicle is slightly heavier than the T-90 main battle tank. It has several features, including a built-in entrenching blade and the T-14's numerous cameras and sensors.

Like the T-14, the T-15 is protected by reactive armor and the Afganit active protection system. While the T-14 has its Afganit launch tubes at the base of its turret, the T-15 has them arrayed along the top sides of its hull. It uses four soft-kill launchers to deploy smoke grenades that disrupt visual and infrared guidance systems, and five hard-kill launch tubes on top of the hull, compared to the T-14's ten hard-kill tubes on the turret which automatically turns to face a threat. The T-15 has "an unprecedented level of armor protection," including improved passive steel and ceramic composite plate armor and a slat armor cage at the rear. Its new Malakhit (Malachite) ERA is claimed to protect against ATGMs like the FGM-148 Javelin and Missile Moyenne Portee (MMP) and 120 mm tank rounds like the German DM53/DM63 and American M829A3 APFSDS sabots. In addition to hard-kill and soft-kill APS, the developer uses a special paint that significantly reduces the vehicle's infrared signature. The floor is reinforced with an additional armor plate for counter-mine and counter-IED protection, and it has a jamming system to detonate radio-controlled anti-tank mines. The T-15 has an NBC protection system.

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a Russian T-15 Armata heavy infantry fighting vehicle. Now in stock!

Dimensions:
Length: 5-inches
Width: 2-inches

Release Date: August 2020

Historical Account: "Trooping the Colors" - The 2017 Moscow Victory Day Parade was a military parade that took place in Red Square in Moscow on May 9th, 2017, to commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945. The annual parade marks the Allied victory in World War II on the Eastern Front, on the same day as the signing of the German act of capitulation to the Allies in Berlin, at midnight of 9 May 1945 (Russian time). President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin delivered his fourteenth holiday address to the nation after the parade inspection presided over by Minister of Defense General of the Army Sergey Shoygu.

For the Military Band Service of the Armed Forces of Russia, the 2017 parade was the first for its current Senior Director of Music, Colonel Timofey Mayakin, who was appointed in this capacity last August 2016, succeeding the now deceased Lieutenant General Valery Khalilov, the former Senior Director of Music and conductor of the Moscow area massed bands for the holiday parades for a record 14 years, who was in the 2016 Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 crash.

President of Moldova Igor Dodon was present at the parade after confirming that he would be present at the parade in a meeting with Putin.

The 2017 Moscow parade was the first and only parade so far in modern times to have its flypast segment cancelled due to bad weather for the first time since the flypasts resumed in 2008. General of the Army Shoygu, Colonel General Salyukov as well as parading officers from all service branches (land, sea and air) also wore new officer uniforms (the Ground and Aerospace Forces uniforms being a throwback to the M1943 dress uniforms). ODON National Guardsmen also wore new 4 button uniforms with a new shoulder board design.