Tank biathlon

The tank biathlon is a mechanized military sport event held by the Russian military as a part of the annual International Army Games. Inspired by the winter sport of biathlon, the sport emphasizes 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] The Russian team has so far demonstrated the most outstanding skills among participants.

Four T-72B tanks of the participants, 2013
Russian T-72B, 2013
T-80U tanks waltzing at the show, 2013

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

Participating tanks drive a three-lap route of 6–10 km (3.7–6.2 mi). During the first lap, crews fire at tank-size targets positioned at distances of 1,600 m (5,200 ft), 1,700 m (5,600 ft), and 1,800 m (5,900 ft) (crews aim by optics, 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 (2,000–2,300 ft), 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 (3,900 ft). One or more misses leads to an extra penalty lap 500 m (1,600 ft) 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.

Colour Place Team Range 1 Range 2 Range 3 Total time
H P H P H P
Red1 Russia10002023:44
Blue2 Kazakhstan01101224:36
Yellow3 Belarus00102125:25
Green4 Armenia01101229:48

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 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 No. Team
Red1 Russia
Red2 Mongolia
Red3 Venezuela
Blue4 Kazakhstan
Blue5 Belarus
Blue6 Armenia
Green7 China
Green8 Serbia
Green9 Kyrgyzstan
Yellow10 India
Yellow11 Angola
Yellow12 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 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 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 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 No. Team
Red1 Russia
Red2 Venezuela
Red3 Armenia
Red4 Kyrgyzstan
Blue5 Nicaragua
Blue6 Angola
Blue7 China
Green8 Tajikistan
Green9 Mongolia
Green10 Kazakhstan
Yellow11 India
Yellow12 Serbia
Yellow13 Kuwait

Semifinal
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 2nd International Army Games from 30 July to 13 August.[4]

Colour Place Team
Red1 Russia
Blue2 China
Green3 Kazakhstan
Blue4 Belarus
Blue5 Serbia
Yellow6 India
Green7 Azerbaijan
Green8 Mongolia
Red9 Armenia
Red10 Kyrgyzstan
Yellow11 Angola
Yellow12 Iran

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 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.[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 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
Place Team Final round
1 RussiaChampions
2 BelarusFinal
3 KazakhstanFinal
4 AzerbaijanFinal
5 MongoliaSemi-final
6 ChinaSemi-final
7 VenezuelaSemi-final
8 SerbiaSemi-final
9 SyriaEliminated in individual race
10 KyrgyzstanEliminated in individual race
11 ArmeniaEliminated in individual race
12 IranEliminated in individual race

Division 2 standings
Place Team Final round
1 UzbekistanChampions
2 VietnamFinal
3 CubaFinal
4 UgandaFinal
5 MyanmarSemi-final
6 KuwaitSemi-final
7 TajikistanSemi-final
8 LaosSemi-final
9 AngolaEliminated in individual race
10 SudanEliminated in individual race
11 Zimbabwe

Division 1 standings
Place Team Final round
1 RussiaChampions
2 ChinaFinal
3 BelarusFinal
4 AzerbaijanFinal
5 KazakhstanSemi-final
6 UzbekistanSemi-final
7 SerbiaSemi-final
8 KyrgyzstanSemi-final

Division 2 standings
Place Team Final round
1 VietnamChampions
2 LaosFinal
3 TajikistanFinal
4 MyanmarFinal
5 CongoSemi-final
6 Abkhazia
7 South Ossetia
8 Qatar

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 13th and 27th August 2022.

Medalist table
Year Gold Silver Bronze
 1st Division
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
2022  Russia  Belarus  China
Year Gold Silver Bronze
 2nd Division
2019  Uzbekistan  Vietnam  Cuba
2020  Vietnam  Laos  Tajikistan
2021  Kyrgyzstan  Tajikistan  Myanmar
2022  Myanmar  Syria  Tajikistan

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 2023
 Russia 1.00 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
 China 2.78 3 2 2 3 2 6 2 2 3
 Kazakhstan 3.50 2 4 4 3 2 4 3 5 3 5
 Belarus 3.56 3 5 4 4 3 2 3 6 2
 Azerbaijan 5.00 7 5 5 4 4 4 6
 Serbia 7.00 8 3 5 6 11 8 7 8
 India 7.00 6 5 6 12 6
 Armenia 9.25 4 2 8 9 10 10 11 10 20
 Mongolia 7.63 9 10 8 8 7 5 7 7
 Kyrgyzstan 9.44 7 6 10 11 12 10 8 1 12 9
 Iran 10.80 12 7 9 12 4 14
 Venezuela 10.00 10 11 15 9 8 7 10 10
 Syria 11.25 13 9 11 2 12
 Uzbekistan 7.00 1 13 6 5 4
 Tajikistan 13.00 7 14 13 14 7 19 3 11 2 13 3 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 11.40 17 2 14 1 9 9 8
 Myanmar 14.00 16 5 17 4 12 3 14 1 11
 Laos 16.17 17 18 8 20 2 10 5 16 6 16
 Uganda 19.00 19 22 4 16
 Zimbabwe 19.20 17 18 20 11 23 8 18
 South Africa 21.00 21
 Sudan 20.50 10 22 9 19
 Qatar 17.00 8 16 7 18
 Congo 13.00 5 13
 Abkhazia 16.00 6 14 6 17 7 17
 South Ossetia 15.00 7 15 4 15 5 15
 Mali 20.00 8 19 11 21

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 23 August 2020[9] as a time-limited event in the War Thunder military simulation game that coincides with the real world competitions.

See also

References
  1. Сергей Шойгу сделает танковый биатлон новым видом спорта. Vesti.Ru (in Russian). 10 August 2013. Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  2. Rogoway, Tyler (7 June 2017). "Russia Challenges U.S. Tankers To Compete In Its Annual 'Tank Biathlon'". TheDrive.com. Archived from the original on 14 August 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  3. Kramnik, Ilya (19 May 2016). Гонка танковых чемпионатов. Defence.Ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  4. Ptichkin, Sergey (13 August 2016). Международные армейские игры завершились победой России. Rossiyskaya Gazeta (in Russian). Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  5. "After Both Tanks Break Down, India Knocked Out Of International Drill". NDTV. Archived from the original on 9 January 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  6. "India knocked out of tank contest in Russia after T-90s develop snags". Hindustan Times. 13 August 2017. Archived from the original on 22 November 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  7. "Result of contests 2017". International Army Games. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  8. "Russian team wins final Tank Biathlon race". TASS. Archived from the original on 20 August 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  9. "Video game mirrors war games: Russia rolls out cyber tank biathlon tournament". TASS. Archived from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
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