Tank biathlon

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Four T-72B tanks of the participants, 2013

Russian T-72B, 2013

T-80U tanks waltzing at the show, 2013

The tank biathlon is a mechanized military sport event held by the Russian military as part of the annual International Army Games. Inspired by the winter sport of biathlon, the sport emphasize 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.^[1]

Description[]

One of the shooting targets used in tank biathlon (dimensions in centimeters)

Participating tanks drive a three-lap route of 6–10 km. During the first lap, crews fire at tank-size targets positioned at distances of 1,600, 1,700 and 1,800 m (crews aim by tank's optic, without any modern fire-control system). 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 fire at targets shaped like an anti-tank gun and ATGM unit using the turret-mounted heavy machine gun at a distance of 1,200 m. One or more misses leads to an extra penalty lap 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.

Events[]

The United States received an official invitation in 2013 and an unofficial invitation in 2017.^[2] In 2014, 41 countries received the invitation.^[3]

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.

Place	Team	Range 1		Range 2		Range 3		Total time
		H	P	H	P	H	P
1	Russia	1	0	0	0	2	0	23:44
2	Kazakhstan	0	1	1	0	1	2	24:36
3	Belarus	0	0	1	0	2	1	25:25
4	Armenia	0	1	1	0	1	2	29:48

1st Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2014[]

The  [ru] 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 96A.

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:

Color	Team
1	Russia
2	Mongolia
3	Venezuela
4	Kazakhstan
5	Belarus
6	Armenia
7	China
8	Serbia
9	Kyrgyzstan
10	India
11	Angola
12	Kuwait

First legs of the tournament consisted of:

• Individual race
• Sprint
• Pursuit
• Athletic stage

Final[]

The final competition was a relay race, the top 4 teams fielded all their crews taking turns.

Total time	Team
75:14	Russia
80:03	Armenia
90:56	China
94:11	Kazakhstan

2nd Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2015[]

A Chinese Type 96A at the 2015 tank biathlon

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  [ru] 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:

Color	Team
1	Russia
2	Venezuela
3	Armenia
4	Kyrgyzstan
5	Nicaragua
6	Angola
7	China
8	Tajikistan
9	Mongolia
10	Kazakhstan
11	India
12	Serbia
13	Kuwait

1/2 final[]

Total time	Team
73:30	Russia
77:32	China
78:18	Kazakhstan
83:23	Serbia
94:12	India
97:06	Kyrgyzstan
120:04	Tajikistan
DSQ	Armenia

Final[]

Total time	Team
72:09	Russia
79:21	China
84:56	Serbia
86:16	Kazakhstan

3rd Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2016[]

The third Tank Biathlon took place in Alabino as part of the  [ru] on 30 July–13 August.^[4]

Place	Team
1	Russia
2	China
3	Kazakhstan
4	Belarus
5	Serbia
6	India
7	Azerbaijan
8	Mongolia
9	Armenia
10	Kyrgyzstan
11	Angola
12	Iran

4th Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2017[]

The fourth Tank Biathlon took place in Alabino, Moscow Region. The countries used the same type of tanks as in previous year (T-72B3 and Type-96B), with the exception of India fielding T-90 Bhishma. New Delhi Television reported that the Indian Army felt disadvantaged using T-72B3 tanks provided by Russia in 2016 and was keen to field its best tanks and best crews in 2017. However, as a result of both T-90 Bhishma tanks (the main one and the reserve one) malfunctioning, the Indian squad was unable to complete the race and were disqualified before 1/2 final.^[5][6]

After seven days of contests, Team Russia won 11 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze awards and finished 1st in the overall ratings, and Team China achieved second place with 7 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze.^[7]

Place	Team
1	Russia
2	China
3	Kazakhstan
4	Belarus
5	Azerbaijan
6	Serbia
7	Iran
8	Mongolia
9	Venezuela
10	Armenia
11	Kyrgyzstan
12	India

6th Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2019[]

The competition had a slight change of rules, with 2 divisions (Division 1 and Division 2). Division 1 consist of 12 strongest participants in the 2018 edition, while Division 2 consists of all other participants.

After 2 weeks of contests, Russia once again become the World Champion with the result of 1:33:20. In Division 2, Uzbekistan won the finals, and as they participate in the 2020 edition, they are promoted to Division 1.

Notes:

Division 1 standings[]

Place	Team
1	Russia
2	Belarus
3	Kazakhstan
4	Azerbaijan
5	Mongolia
6	China
7	Venezuela
8	Serbia
9	Syria
10	Kyrgyzstan
11	Armenia
12	Iran

Division 2 standings[]

Place	Team
1	Uzbekistan
2	Vietnam
3	Cuba
4	Uganda
5	Myanmar
6	Kuwait
7	Tajikistan
8	Laos
9	Angola
10	Sudan
11	Zimbabwe

7th Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2020[]

Division 1 standings[]

Place	Team
1	Russia
2	China
3	Belarus
4	Azerbaijan
5	Kazakhstan
6	Uzbekistan
7	Serbia
8	Kyrgyzstan

Division 2 standings[]

Place	Team
1	Vietnam
2	Laos
3	Tajikistan
4	Myanmar
5	Congo
6	Abkhazia
7	South Ossetia
8	Qatar

Medalist table[]

1st Division

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze
2014	Russia	Armenia	China
2015	Russia	China	Serbia
2016	Russia	China	Kazakhstan
2017[7]	Russia	Kazakhstan	China
2018[8]	Russia	China	Belarus
2019	Russia	Belarus	Kazakhstan
2020	Russia	China	Belarus
2021	Russia	China	Kazakhstan

2nd Division

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze
2019	Uzbekistan	Vietnam	Cuba
2020	Vietnam	Laos	Tajikistan
2021	Kyrgyzstan	Tajikistan	Myanmar

Rating[]

The table shows the teams' places in each of the world championships. For 2nd division teams, the first number is the place within the division, and the second number is the absolute place. The teams are ranked according to their average (absolute) place.

Team Avg 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022  Russia 1.00 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1  China 2.75 3 2 2 3 2 6 2 2  Kazakhstan 3.33 2 4 4 3 2 4 3 5 3  Belarus 3.75 3 5 4 4 3 2 3 6  Azerbaijan 4.83 7 5 5 4 4 4  Serbia 7.00 8 3 5 6 11 8 7 8  India 7.00 6 5 6 12 6  Armenia 7.71 4 2 8 9 10 10 11  Mongolia 7.71 9 10 8 8 7 5 7  Kyrgyzstan 9.50 7 6 10 11 12 10 8 1 12  Iran 10.00 12 7 9 12  Venezuela 10.00 10 11 15 9 8 7 10  Syria 11.00 13 9 11  Uzbekistan 8.00 1 13 6 5  Tajikistan 13.00 7 14 13 14 7 19 3 11 2 13  Kuwait 13.67 12 9 13 15 15 6 18  Angola 14.67 11 12 11 14 19 9 21  Cuba 15.00 3 15  Nicaragua 15.00 13 16 16  Vietnam 12.25 17 2 14 1 9 9  Myanmar 14.75 16 5 17 4 12 3 14  Laos 16.20 17 18 8 20 2 10 5 16  Uganda 19.00 19 22 4 16  Zimbabwe 19.50 17 18 20 11 23  South Africa 21.00 21  Sudan 22.00 10 22  Qatar 17.00 8 16 7 18  Congo 13.00 5 13  Abkhazia 15.50 6 14 6 17  South Ossetia 15.00 7 15 4 15  Mali 19.00 8 19

Legend      Participant      Relay race      Final relay race      Participant (2nd division)      Relay race (2nd division)      Final relay race (2nd division)

Videogame[]

The official videogame version of Tank Biathlon was released on August 23rd, 2020.^[9] It is a time-limited event in War Thunder military simulation game that coincides with the real world competitions.

See also[]

• Canadian Army Trophy
• Strong Europe Tank Challenge

References[]

External links[]

• (in Russian) Official site of the project. Official video of the competition. All 5 issues for each year (you need to switch from a button on the site to video hosting (the list 1 ~ 5 will open)).