The latest rehearsal for what is planned to be the biggest Victory Day parade in Russia's recent history is scheduled for Friday, at 6:45 a.m., so it's possible that the Armata tank will appear as soon as this week.
However, the tank will appear in a camouflage that will distort it's silhouette and make it impossible to examine its exact configuration. The technique, practiced by car manufacturers to protect prospective models from espionage, will likely be adapted for the Armata. One existing technology to conceal a tank's shape is the Nakidka, developed by Moscow's Steel Research Institute, which also conceals a tank's thermal, infrared and radar signatures.
The first 20 T-14 Armata main battle tanks were handed over to the military earlier in February. It was initially thought that the new tank would be revealed then, but authorities decided to keep the tank's details a secret.
The T-14 (Object 149) main battle tank is based on the Armata platform, which has been in development at Uralvagonzavod since 2009. Other than the tank, the platform will be used for armored fighting vehicles (AFVs), self-propelled guns (SPGs), engineering vehicles and other uses.
The tank will go through state trials in 2016, and it is expected that by 2020, over 2,300 tanks on the Armata platform will be supplied to the military.
