Vladimir Putin unveils futuristic new Russian tanks with built-in masking cloaks making them INVISIBLE to US missiles
VLADIMIR Putin's military has a secret weapon in its ever expanding armoury - a massive fleet of “invisible” tanks.
The state-of-the-art T-14 Armata fighting machines use a special stealth coating to disguise themselves on enemy radar.
Big-spending Putin has reportedly ordered 100 of the "cloaked" T-14 Armata tanks to be readied for battle - as tensions mount across the world.
UV detectors give instant warning of incoming fire while a 125mm smoothbore cannon fires at a rate of 100 shots per minute.
The tank can completely obliterate enemy targets more than five miles away.
It also boasts a fully autonomous turret that can rotate 360 degrees at high speed to hit back at threats in any direction, reports
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A masking agent named Mantiya has been specially developed for the T-14.
The tanks also have slat armour providing protection against high-precision anti-tank weapons and close combat weapons such as hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers.
The principle of the Mantiya is quite straightforward - it’s used to cover a tank, special forces fighting vehicles or other armoured hardware.
It absorbs radar waves, repelling and at the same time scattering them, thus effectively reducing detection of the moving object.
The thermal signature of the functioning engines is reduced to background level, so one is blurred with the other.
As a result the vehicle stops being visible to weapons like the US military's Javelin's homing warheads that use thermal detection to hit targets.
Tank troops veteran and editor of the Arsenal Otechestva journal Viktor Murakhovsky says it's insufficient nowadays to merely boost the armour of combat vehicles or to apply "stealth" technology.
Modern hardware protection involves a comprehensive set of solutions consisting of multiple elements: From protective armour, including slat armour, to electronic systems and special "cloaks of invisibility."
Comparing the T-14 with its Western counterparts, designers speak of a 25-30 percent advantage over the American Abrams tank, France's Leclerc tank and Germany's Leopard 2.
Another of the the tank's outstanding feature is its unmanned turret which the crew can operate by remote control from an isolated armoured capsule.