Russian state-media continues to gloat about the overwhelming superiority of Russia's new T-14 Armata main battle tank over NATO and U.S. tanks despite these claims being mostly propaganda and the fact the Russian Ground Forces hasn't received a single one of these tanks.

The absence of these alleged "world beaters" means Russia can't afford to start a war against NATO and the United States any time soon.

Like Us on Facebook

It was only this September the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation signed an order for a pilot batch of more than 100 Armatas that will all be used in field trials. The deal with Uralvagonzavod, Russia's leading tank maker and builder of the T-14, will see the first pilot batch take part in comprehensive military tests simulating combat situations.

The program to supply the Russian Ground Forces with T-14s was initially planned to last begin by 2020, but has been extended until 2025 due to logistics and technical problems and funding shortfalls. The Russian Army plans to order 2,300 T-14s.

This means that if a war against NATO and the U.S. were to occur before 2025, the Russian Ground Forces will be overwhelmed by the larger numbers of more capable allied tanks. The Russian Ground Force's armored divisions are equipped with about 900 T-90s, a tank clearly inferior to those used by the U.S. and NATO.

Uralvagonzavod can only produce some 120 T-14s a month and it will take nearly 21 years to replace Russia's 2,500 operational tanks with T-14s. But the biggest problem isn't production. It's money.

Western military analysts doubt if the Kremlin has the money to buy that many Armata tanks, which is seriously in doubt considering the Russian economy's dire financial straits as a result of punishing Western sanctions.

Despite these seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Russian state-media continues to trumpet the world-beating qualities of the T-14.

"The West still remains in shock about the emergence of the T-14 Armata tank given that the West had repeatedly predicted that the Armata project would never be implemented and that the tank would be a 'soap bubble,'" said military expert Ivan Konovalov.

He said the T-14's sophisticated characteristics set a new trend in tank construction and that "the West will have to either create the T-14's analogue or admit that they currently need no tanks on the potential battlefield."

"However, modern warfare once again confirmed the significance of the tanks, especially those equipped with a powerful protection system," he said.

He noted the T-14 has the most advanced protection system in the world.

Russian media also claims the U.S. doesn't have the money to build a new tank as sophisticated as the T-14.

They said the U.S .Department of Defense is having a hard time readjusting to major military spending cuts imposed in recent years. This lack of funding apparently led to the U.S. Army facing a funding shortage to develop and produce next-generation armored vehicles to replace the M1A2 Abrams and the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

TagsT-14 Armata, Russia, Russian Ground Forces, Uralvagonzavod