MOSCOW, July 12. /TASS/. Russia’s most advanced T-14 Armata tank will serve in the troops for no less than 23-30 years and will be replaced by armored vehicles based on new physical principles, ex-Head of the Defense Ministry’s Main Auto and Armor Directorate Colonel-General Sergei Mayev told TASS on Thursday.

The expert was interviewed by TASS on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Prokhorovka, the largest tank engagement between the Soviet forces and Nazi troops.

"A lot of new prototypes are currently at the concluding stage of their development - the Armata, Kurganets-25, Bumerang platforms and others - these are traditional means. They will serve for no less than 25-30 years. They are expected to be replaced by the types of armaments based on new physical principles," the general said.

In his opinion, this will become possible in case of the favorable development of fundamental science, technologies, design work, production and the financing of all these components.

In the expert’s opinion, robotized armored vehicles are due to appear earlier: in 10-15 years.

For this purpose, it is important to develop robotics spare parts and components, he noted.

"I mean, of course, ground forces. As for the air, the possibilities of using robotized systems are more uniform than on the ground," the general added.

New physical principles are a notional term used to underline that the weapon’s destructive factors are based on processes and phenomena that were not earlier applied for military purposes. The weapons based on these principles include laser and microwave guns, sonic weapons, electromagnetic bombs and others.

The largest tank battle of World War Two took place near the village of Prokhorovka on July 12, 1943 between the Soviet and German forces that involved up to 1,200 tanks and self-propelled guns from both sides. Both sides sustained heavy losses. In this Battle, the Soviet troops routed the German’s most powerful strike force and the enemy’s basic forces had to switch to the defensive.