Four Tajik top tank crews will participate in the Tank Biathlon World Championship 2019 that will take place at the Alabino Firing Range in Moscow oblast from August 3 to August 17, an official source at the Ministry of Defense told Asia-Plus in an interview.
Tajik delegation is led by Colonel Mahmadali Ashourov, Deputy Commander of Ground Forces of Tajikistan.
This year, tank crews from Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Cuba, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Laos, Myanmar, Mongolia, Russia, South Africa, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Zimbabwe will participate in the Tank Biathlon World Championship in Russia
Every competitor (except Team Belarus, China, India and Russia) will receive a T-72B tank in the biathlon color scheme. Team Russia will pilot the newest modification, T-72B3, Team Belarus has brought their own T-72 (modernized at defense plants), Team China has brought their own Type 96B, and Team India has brought their own T-90 (manufactured under license).
A Tank biathlon is a mechanized military sport developed by the Russian Military with some similarities to the sport of biathlon. It is supposed to utilize 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.
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.
The 1st Tank Biathlon World Championship took place at the Alabino proving ground on August 4-16, 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.
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