Manufacturer ready to consider Russian Armata tank exports to foreign countries

MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/. Russia’s Uralvagonzavod, a manufacturer of railway cars and defense-related machines, said on Monday it is ready to look at possible exports of the new-generation tanks, T-14 Armata, to foreign buyers.

"We had a lot of talks with various delegations in the framework of the recent Russian Arms Expo (RAE-2015) - all demonstrated interest in buying these products,"Uralvagonzavod’s director general Oleg Siyenko, told the Ekho Moskvy radio station. "But so far, it is beyond the current agenda. Our priority is to equip our own armed forces with state-of-the-art hardware. But from the point of view of the economy, undoubtedly, we would like to export these products in future."

He said among potential buyer could be countries with big defense budgets, such as China, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar. "Sure, there is interest from Europe too," he noted.

Earlier, Russian Minister of Trade and Industry Denis Manturov said Russia was ready to discuss with its foreign partners possible supplies of Armata tanks after 2020, when Uralvagonzavod was through with the orders under the state armaments program.

The Armata is a commonized heavy platform that has served as a basis for a tank and an IFV. An armored recovery vehicle is being derived from it too.

The new tank is furnished with an unmanned turret, all-digital controls and an isolated armored crew compartment. Its main armament is a 125-mm gun, but the introduction of a 152-mm gun sometime in the future is a possibility.