Tank Biathlon
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The tank biathlon is a mechanized military sport event held by the
Russian military The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Ground Forces, Navy, and Aerospace Forces—two independent comba ...
as a part of the annual
International Army Games The International Army Games () is an annual international military sports event organized by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Russia. The event, which was first staged in August 2015, involves close to 30 countries taking part in dozens of comp ...
. Inspired by the winter sport of
biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not ti ...
, the sport emphasizes the complex training of
tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...
crews including their rough terrain passing skills combined with the ability to provide accurate and rapid fire while performing maneuvers.


Description

Participating tanks drive a three-lap route of . During the first lap, crews fire at tank-size targets positioned at distances of , , and (crews aim by optics, without any modern
fire-control system A fire-control system (FCS) is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director and radar, which is designed to assist a ranged weapon system to target, track, and hit a target. It performs the same task as a hum ...
). In the second lap, different targets imitating an anti-tank mortar (
RPG RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...
) squad and an infantry unit are fired upon. These targets are at a distance of , 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 An anti-tank gun is a form of artillery designed to destroy tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, normally from a static defensive position. The development of specialized anti-tank munitions and anti-tank guns was prompted by the appearance ...
and
ATGM An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulder ...
unit using the turret-mounted
heavy machine gun A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require mounting onto a weapons platform to be operably stable or ...
at a distance of . One or more misses leads to an extra penalty lap 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. In 2014, 41 countries received the invitation.


International competition, 2013

The first international tank biathlon competition was held at the
Alabino Alabino () is a rural locality in the Moscow Oblast of Russia. With a population of over 600 people, it is part of the urban settlement of Selyatino. Until 2006, Alabino was part of the Petrovsky Rural District. One of the main attractions in the ...
proving ground in the
Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast (, , informally known as , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). With a population of 8,524,665 (Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census) living in an area of , it is one of the most densely populate ...
on 12–17 August 2013. Four teams took part in the competition: Russia,
Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...
,
Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
and
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
.


1st Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2014

The 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 The T-72 is a Soviet Union, Soviet-designed main battle tank that entered production in 1973. It replaced the T-54/55 series as the workhorse of Soviet tank forces (while the T-64 and T-80 served as the Soviet high-technology tanks). In front-lin ...
tank in the biathlon color scheme. Team Russia piloted the newest modification,
T-72B3 The T-72 is a Soviet-designed main battle tank that entered production in 1973. It replaced the T-54/55 series as the workhorse of Soviet tank forces (while the T-64 and T-80 served as the Soviet high-technology tanks). In front-line Russian serv ...
, and Team China brought their own Type 96A. Russian preliminaries for the event ran in several of
military districts of Russia The military districts in Russia serve as administrative divisions for the Russian Armed Forces. Each has a headquarters administering the military formations within the Russian federal subjects that it includes. As of March 2024, there are five ...
. 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: * Individual race * Sprint * Pursuit * Athletic stage


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 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 the 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 did not enter 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 Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...
and
Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...
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:


Semifinal


Final


3rd Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2016

The third Tank Biathlon took place in Alabino as part of the from 30 July to 13 August.


4th Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2017

The fourth Tank Biathlon also took place in Alabino. The countries used the same type of tanks as in previous years (T-72B3 and Type-96B), with the exception of India fielding T-90 Bhishma. ''New Delhi Television'' reported that the
Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...
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 the semifinal. 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.


6th Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2019

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


Division 1 standings


Division 2 standings


7th Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2020


Division 1 standings


Division 2 standings


8th Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2021

The 8th Tank Biathlon took place between 22 August and 4 September 2021 at the Alabino proving grounds. Russia once again become the World Champion, followed by China, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.


9th Tank Biathlon World Championship, 2022

The 2022 Tank Biathlon took place between 13 and 27 August 2022. The biathlon was not held in 2023 and 2024 as the International Army Games were paused due to shortages stemming from the
Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
.


Medalist table


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. Legend: * * * * * *


Video game

On 23 August 2020, tank biathlon was added as a time-limited event in the ''
War Thunder ''War Thunder'' is a 2013 free-to-play vehicular combat multiplayer video game produced by Gaijin Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Oculus, and Vive. It was first relea ...
'' military simulation game that coincided with the real-world competition.


See also

*
Canadian Army Trophy The Canadian Army Trophy (''CAT'') is a tank gunnery competition established to foster excellence, camaraderie and competition among the armoured forces of the NATO countries in Western Europe. The trophy is a miniature sterling silver replica ...
* Strong Europe Tank Challenge


References


External links

*
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)). {{Main world championships Tanks Military sports Motorsport by type Motorsport in Russia Off-roading Sports originating in Russia Hybrid sports Recurring sporting events established in 2014