Flushed With Pride? Russia Outfitting New Tank With A Toilet

The toilet system on the new T-14 Armata tank is meant to help Russian tank crews on long missions.

War is hell -- but for Russian tank crews, it's about to get a bit more comfortable.

The designer of a new battle tank that is under development says the latest plans for the armored vehicle include a built-in toilet for its three-person crew.

Ilya Baranov, an official at the Ural Design Bureau of Transport Machine-Building in Yekaterinburg, announced the unusual feature of the T-14 Armata tank on March 7 during an interview with Russia's TASS news agency.

Baranov said the toilet system is meant to help Russian tank crews during long missions with few stops or none at all.

A prototype of the T-14 Armata tank was unveiled publicly at a military parade in Moscow in 2015, but development has continued since then.

During rehearsals for that parade, there were three malfunctions of the prototype -- including one that occurred on Moscow's Red Square:

Russian officials said at the time of the presentation that 2,300 of the vehicles would be in use in Russia's armed forces in 2020.

They said the first battle-ready units should be sent to the 1st Guards Tank Regiment, which is part of the 2nd Guards of the Motorized Taman Division based in the Moscow region.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service and TASS