Russia is ready to build the world's largest super tank with a massive cannon.

"We have sufficient resources to manufacture a tank using a 152 mm cannon based on the Armata combat platform. The decision to proceed with the project will depend on the Russian Ministry of Defense."TASSAccording to a representative of the Russian armored vehicle manufacturer Uralvagonzavod (UVZ), the statement was made yesterday.

The primary weapon on the T-14 Armata super tank is the 125 mm 2A82-1M smoothbore cannon, replacing the 125 mm 2A46M5 cannon on the T-90A tank. The 2A82-1M's muzzle velocity is 20% higher than that of Germany's advanced Rheinmetall 120 mm L/55 cannon, considered the best tank gun in the world. The T-14's armor-piercing rounds can penetrate armor equivalent to 900 mm of rolled homogeneous steel (RHA) from a distance of two kilometers.

UVZ once proposed replacing the 2A82-1M main gun with the 2A83 152 mm caliber gun to enhance the firepower of the T-14 Armata. The 2A83 smoothbore gun, developed in the 2000s for the T-95 tank prototype, is capable of firing armor-piercing fin-stabilized projectiles (APFSDS) with a muzzle velocity of nearly 1,980 m/s, only decreasing to 1,900 m/s at a distance of two kilometers.

Equipping the T-14 Armata super tank with a 152 mm caliber cannon also gives it firepower equivalent to the 2S19 Msta-S and 2S35 Koalitsiya-SV self-propelled artillery systems, easily destroying fortified targets such as enemy bunkers. However, some Russian experts believe that upgrading to 125 mm ammunition would be more practically effective than increasing the caliber.

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko revealed yesterday that the Russian military signed an agreement with UVZ at the Army-2018 military technical exhibition to receive 132 T-14 super tanks and T-15 infantry fighting vehicles. The first batch of nine vehicles will be delivered this year, with the contract expected to be completed before 2021.