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A Tank biathlon is a mechanised military sport developed by the Russian Military with some similarities to the winter sport of biathlon. It utilizes the complex training of tank crews including their rough terrain passing skills combined with the ability to provide accurate and rapid fire while performing maneuvers.
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Description
Partaking tanks drive a three-lap route of 6–10 km. During the first lap, crews fire at targets positioned at distances of 1,800, 1,700 and 1,500 m. In the second lap, different targets imitating an anti-tank mortar (RPG) squad and an infantry unit are fired upon. These targets are at a distance of 600–700 m, and must be engaged with a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun. In the third lap the tank crews targets a target shaped like an anti-tank gun and ATGM unit by use of the turret-mounted heavy machine gun at a distance of 1,200 m. One or more misses leads to an extra penalty lap of 500 m long. On the final lap tanks have to go through various terrain obstacles; an obstacle missed or improperly traversed adds 10 seconds to the crew's final timing.
International Competition, 2013
The first international tank biathlon competition was held at the Alabino proving ground in the Moscow Oblast, on 12–17 August 2013. Four teams took part in the competition: Russia, Armenia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
1st Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2014
The 1st Tank Biathlon World Championship took place at the Alabino proving ground on 4–16 August 2014. Out of 41 nations that received invitation to the tournament, 12 sent their representatives. Every competitor (except Teams China and Russia) received a T-72B tank in the biathlon color scheme. Team Russia piloted the newest modification, T-72B3, and Team China brought their own Type 96B.
Russian preliminaries for the event ran in several of Military districts of Russia. Each district sent its top crews to compete for the Cup of Russia, and 3 finalists from that event formed the national Team Russia for the World Championship.
Participating nations also held preliminaries on their own, sending 3 top crews and a reserve crew accompanied by maintenance and repair personnel to Russia.
Random selection placed teams under following colors:
First legs of the tournament consisted of:
Final
The final competition was a relay race, the top 4 teams fielded all their crews taking turns.
2nd Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2015
The second event of the series took part on 1–15 August 2015 at the same venue in Alabino. This year the Tank Biathlon was held as a headliner of the 2015 International Army Games that included similar competitions for all things military, from artillery (Masters of Fire) and air force (Aviadarts) to field kitchens.
The athletic stage for the crews was removed from schedule.
Veteran of both previous events, Team Belarus decided to participate in the Army Games "only in the disciplines where we are absolutely ready" and thus didn't apply for the Tank Biathlon (after finishing only 5th last year). Consequently, Belarus won 3 gold, 50 silver and 249 bronze awards and finished 3rd in the total medal score of the Army Games, being surpassed only by Russia and China.
The Nicaragua and Tajikistan national teams joined the event for the first time.
All teams were piloting upgraded T-72B3 tanks, excluding Team China which continued to field its own Type 96A.
List of participants with color scheme:
3rd Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2016
Took place in Alabino as part of II International Army Games on 30 July–13 August.