German, Italian teams may participate in next year’s tank biathlon competition

The tank biathlon completion in 2014 may feature countries outside the CIS - Germany and Italy, Russia’s Deputy Defence Minister Yuri Borisov said on Saturday. This year, the competition’s final part on August 12-17 in the Moscow region’s Alabino will feature crews from Russia, Armenia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. “Next year, we would like to expand the list of participating countries,” Borisov said. “Russia’ Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has invited counterparts from Italy and Germany to participate in the event.” On Friday, in Washington, Sergei Shoigu said American military would participate in the tank biathlon championship in Russia in 2014. “We have invited our counterparts to participate next year in the tank biathlon, and they accepted gladly the invitation,” Shoigu said. “Moreover, like our Italian counterparts said, they threaten the victory will be theirs.” Borisov spoke about the practical benefit from the competition, saying that besides the higher level of training the tankers, events of the kind allow the crews to demonstrate advantages of the Russian armoured vehicles. “We shall have an opportunity to organise a competition between wheel and track tanks,” the deputy minister said, adding that since the previous year Italian Centauro wheel tanks had been undergoing tests. Tank biathlon is a competition, where crews have to exercise and develop their best professional skills, such as teamwork, ability to hit the target in the shortest possible time, the skill of driving a tank. At the same time, the general timing depends not only on the speed of driving the route, but also on the obligatory hitting all the five targets and clear, without penalties, crossing various obstacles. In the tank biathlon, every tank runs almost 20 kilometres at a maximum possible speed, while firing from all weapons the targets, which are rising in different directions and distances. On the course, a tank has to pass repeatedly a ford, fences, a rut bridge, high-speed sections and overtaking passages. At all the times, the crew remains constantly in the firing position.