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en.rian.ru/photolents/20130819/182845713/All-Out-for-Victory--Harnessing-Deadly-Force-in-Russias-Tank.htmlVid,
en.rian.ru/video/20130819/182851215/International-Armies-Participate-in-Tank-Biathlon.htmlTank biathlon video: Armored races, precision gunnery at 1st competition nr Moscow.
RussiaToday
Aug 15, 2013
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUOGdZSPMdERussia is introducing 'tank biathlon', a new paramilitary sport about armor races and precision gunnery. The first international competition started near Moscow on Monday. Several NATO countries, including the US, are expected to join the contest in 2014. The basic idea behind the tank contest is simple and repeats the rules of the classic biathlon: cover about 20km in shortest time while successfully hitting your targets.
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rt.com/news/first-tank-biathlon-competition-russia-346/Tank biathlon: First comp in new paramilitary sport starts near Moscow.
RT.com
August 11, 2013 11:34
Russia is introducing ‘tank biathlon’, a new paramilitary sport about armor races and precision gunnery. The first international competition starts near Moscow on Monday. Several NATO countries, including the US, are expected to join the contest in 2014.
The concept of a direct tank crew competition recently introduced by the Russian Defense Ministry was born during an ordinary tank crew field firing exercise. What the military needs is a complex tank crew proficiency and gunnery skills test.
But while military drills are a serious and costly matter, tank biathlon is more about pure professionalism and sporting competitive spirit. The winner is champion, having ‘blown’ the competitors away.
The basic idea behind the tank contest is simple and repeats the rules of the classic biathlon: cover about 20km in shortest time while successfully hitting your targets.
But since this is a military game, the targets are hit with everything a tank has in its arsenal: cannon, ranging machine gun and anti-aircraft machine-gun mounted on the tank’s turret. That means there are three firing sectors to use each weapon so a tank crew remains fire-ready throughout the event.
The first is main gun firing; the second is eliminating infantry targets with a 9mm machine gun; and the third is an assault of an ‘artillery battery’ with a 12.5mm anti-aircraft machine-gun. There are five targets at each stage. No tank leaves the range without hitting all targets. Those who missed have to cover penalty loops of 500 meters.
The targets are not static; they appear suddenly and for a limited time. The crew should not only hit each one, but sometimes make an immediate decision in which consequence to hit multiple targets: the most ‘dangerous’ should be eliminated first. The targets emerge at various distances, from 600 meters to up to 2km.
This is not a competition of armored vehicles; it’s a definite team game where every man contributes to the final result.
The tank commander is the decision-maker. He discloses targets, keeps contact with the control station and coordinates actions of the crew.
The gunner hits targets while the driver’s task is not reduced to simple full-throttle acceleration as the tank repeatedly crosses a number of obstacles: a ford, some fences, a rut bridge, plus there are some high-speed sections as well as overtaking passages. So a driver’s exact maneuvering and course stability that influences the firing results means really a lot. If the driver makes mistakes and, for example, hits a pole while making a serpent maneuver – the crew gets an additional 10 seconds to its total time.
The jury follows the competition closely from a command point situated some 2.5km from the range. Video cameras on the range and UAVs in the air make the picture of the contest complete and the refereeing unbiased.
Elimination games have already been conducted in the Central, South and Urals military districts of Russia, while national contests have been held in allied Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia. The final competition between the winning regional and national tank crews will take place at Moscow Region’s Alabino firing range on August 12-17 for the first time ever.
It is expected that the final contest will include several additional elements. One will be hitting targets imitating low-flying helicopters at ranges of 900 to 2,200 meters (possibly with guidable missiles Russian tanks are equipped with). The final round of the competition will also include firing the main gun in motion with the tank's turret turned perpendicular to the axis of movement considered to be one of the most difficult and spectacular elements.
Russian-American tank competition in 2014?
The recent 2+2 meeting of the Russian Foreign and Defense ministers with their American counterparts has brought a number of positive results and among them some quite unexpected ones. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu made several proposals to the American side to further strengthen military cooperation and interaction and the US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel gave the green light to some. Among them is the participation of American tank crews (most probably American M1 Abrams main tanks) in the newly-invented Russian military contest.
“We have invited our American counterparts to participate in the tank biathlon competition in Russia,” Shoigu told reporters. “US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has accepted the invitation.”
Reportedly crews from other NATO countries are also likely to take part in the competition next year.
Shoigu stressed that the crews from the US and possibly Germany and Italy would be driving their own tanks. “Moreover, like our Italian counterparts said, they threaten the victory will be theirs,” Shoigu maintained.
Russia’s Defense Minister also expects the competition to become a great promotion for national armored vehicles on the international arms market. “In future, we shall be doing everything possible to have foreign armed forces buy our tanks,” he promised.
Russia's Deputy Defense Minister Yury Borisov said on Saturday "We shall have an opportunity to organize a competition between wheel and track tanks," adding that since the previous year Italian Centauro wheel tanks have been undergoing tests in Russia (at the Kubinka tank development research center near Moscow).
The practical benefit from the competition would not only be a higher level of training for Russian tank crews, but also demonstrating advantages of the Russian armored vehicles, Borisov said.
Shoigu shared that tank biathlon could become a paramilitary sport discipline.
“I do hope that tank biathlon will become a new sport,” he said.
For the Win – Russia Triumphs in Tank Biathlon.
ALABINO FIRING RANGE, Moscow Region, August 17 (Alexey Eremenko, RIA Novosti) – Russia’s latest military invention – a tank biathlon pitting ex-Soviet states against each other – is an assault on the senses, especially on hearing.
The racing field dwarfs the 40-ton machines and is clouded by smoke. The announcer’s deep voice struggles to cut through the booming guns and whistling signal rockets, and the engines’ roar is deafening as brightly-painted killing machines thunder past, each leaving a plume of dust in its wake.
The idea is pretty simple – just like a regular biathlon, only with tanks.
The Russian military unleashed this new sport on the world this week, delivering an event that was part sales pitch, part post-Soviet bonding exercise.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it won, trouncing rivals from three post-Soviet countries – Armenia, Belarus and Kazakhstan – in Saturday’s superfinals.
Surprise Victory
“I don't know how we did it. Just sat there in the machine going all out, thinking, the whole of Russia is watching us,” Pvt. Igor Artemyev, the Russian team’s driver told RIA Novosti after the race. His left control lever stopped working, and he pulled his machine through while maneuvering with a single track, the 19-year-old conscript – a round-faced, sturdy fellow with the wholesome looks of a rustic fairytale hero – said.
To the spectators however, Russia’s crimson T-72B seemed to breeze through the racing ground like it was a Saturday morning trip to a supermarket.
The crew commander in Kazakhstan's blue tank sprained his arm handling the main gun shell. After a replacement was found it bounced back, coming in second, just under a minute after Russia. Belarus finished third, Armenia last.
“It was new to us. We've done all these exercises before, but never at the same training run,” Kazakh gunner Aidyn Kalioldin told RIA Novosti after the race. “The Russians handled it better. But we would have won if the race had taken place in Kazakhstan,” Kalioldin added with a smile.
Pegs & Minefields
All four teams at Alabino training grounds outside Moscow on Saturday competed in T-72Bs, the staple tank of all post-Soviet armies and a close relative of the T-90, Russia’s main export tank.
Like any good show, it started with a warm-up: Out on the field several heavy war machines of the same model – though not the performers – executed elaborate maneuvers. Incongruously, the host talked like he was at a ballroom dance contest, though there was an apocalyptic grace to this “tank ballet,” as he put it.
Each lap was 6,100 meters (3.8 miles) long and included a scarp, ford, minefield and bridge. The tanks must complete the lap without losing speed or overturning.
During the first lap, each fires its main gun at a target from a distance of 2,200 meters (7,200 feet), which is close to their maximum range. Then it is the machine gun that sees action, and then flanking fire at three consecutive targets. Ammo is loaded onto the tank at the firing line each time. There is no slack – no extra shots are allowed and every miss costs the team a 500-meter penalty lap.
Crucially – to keep the event sporting – they are not allowed to fire at each other.
Culture Clash
The military made an effort to entertain. The superfinals came complete with fireworks, music and dance shows, and a display of old Soviet tanks, cars and state-of-the-art military training equipment.
Children and adults jostled to get their picture taken with what looked like a real rocket launcher.
But the vibe was like that at a pro wrestling match organized by the Soviet Union
The adrenaline-filled event called for scantily clad cheerleaders, hard rock, beer and an announcer frothing at the mouth with excitement but came up short on all counts.
Instead, there were yawning gaps between events, punctuated only by officials’ sleep-inducing speeches.
Any metal band would surely sell their souls for the chance to play this gig, but the live soundtrack to the event sounded prehistoric. Some of the Soviet tunes played were so old that one explicitly praised Stalin.
At times the announcer imitated the booming “this is Moscow calling” style of World War II-era radio host Yury Levitan, but this inevitably fell flat when he had to deliver a running commentary on tanks rolling through obstacles in the haze.
The 3,000 spectators were mostly a hand-picked assortment of former and currently-serving soldiers who were invited along with their entire families. No tickets were on sale to the public.
“Who knows what would happen if we just let anyone in,” army spokesperson Nikolai Dolyushkin told RIA Novosti.
Endangered Species or Export Opportunity?
Not many saw it coming, since tank forces have hardly been a priority in Russia over the past two decades. Plans to scale back the tank force from the current 20,000 to just 2,000 tanks were reported in 2010 by news agencies citing Defense Ministry sources, though never implemented.
Russia’s top brass feel that the tank’s golden age is already over, Voenpens.ru military news website cited military analyst Alexander Khramchikhin as saying last year, shortly before new Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was appointed.
The development of cheap anti-tank weapons and the tendency toward small-scale conflicts arguably eliminate the need for clashes between massive tank armadas, Ruslan Pukhov of the Center for Analysis of Strategy and Technologies told RIA Novosti on Friday.
However, the experience of actual wars of the two past decades in the post-Soviet space (including two Chechen wars, the clash between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh in the early 1990s, and the Russian-Georgian conflict of 2008) all showed that tanks are still relevant, Pukhov said.
Russia remains the world’s biggest exporter of battle tanks, the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Global Arms Trade says. So this tank biathlon appeared to be an entertaining if unconventional sales pitch, Pukhov said.
“We’ll do our best to ensure that foreign armies buy our tanks in the future,” Shoigu said, announcing the event last week.
Forty-six military attaches from embassies in Moscow were invited, the Defense Ministry said, and most showed up, many with their families in tow.
US, Germany – Bring it On
Shoigu also said that the United States and Germany, Russia’s rivals on the arms exports market, were invited to bring their own tanks to compete against Russia next year.
After Saturday’s race, the US and German military attachés both said that their respective superiors are still deciding whether to accept Shoigu’s invitation, though the German officer sounded excited about it.
Shoigu previously claimed that US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel had approved US participation in 2014, but Colonel R. Taft Blackburn, US Army Attaché in Russia, said this was not the case.
“It is an interesting idea, but there are many issues at stake,” was all that Blackburn said when asked by RIA Novosti whether the Pentagon is considering the risk that Russia could interpret US unwillingness to take part as weakness.
Blackburn then beat a hasty retreat into the VIP stand, as an Armenian tank thundered past.
