In Russia the
"Tank Biathlon 2015" competition will be held this year. Participating are not less than 13 countries:
- Angola
- Armenia
- China
- India
- Kazakhstan
- Kuwait
- Kyrgyzstan
- Mongolia
- Nicaragua
- Russia
- Serbia
- Tajikistan
- Venezuela
Tajikistan and Nicaragua are first time participants in the competition. Except for the Chinese, which will utilize the Norinco Type 96A, all countries will use the T-72. According to Russia Today, the tanks will be in the T-72B3 configuration - this however seems to be questionable, as countries other than Russia do not operate this tank and the crews hence will be less trained on the equipment.
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T-72B3 and Type 96A tanks |
Each country gets a total of four tanks - one spare vehicle and three for the competition. One run at the tank biathlon will take at least 28 minutes, an increase by 5 or more minutes of the previous year's 23 minute run.
Tank/tank crew competitions have a more than half a century long history. During the Cold War the
Canadian Army Trophy was a competition between the NATO forces in West-Germany.
The "Tank Biathlon" is a rather recent competition hosted by Russia. The community of Leopard 2 user countries has the LEOBEN cup.
Source: Russia Today
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