Russia Challenges US in Tank Biathlon

[Purveyor]

MOSCOW, August 10 (RIA Novosti) – Blurring the line between sports and warfare, the Russian army premiered a new sport – tank biathlon – and invited US crews to compete.

“We’ve invited our American colleagues to participate…and our invitation was accepted by US Secretary of Defense [Chuck] Hagel,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Saturday.

Italy and Germany also agreed to send their teams to compete with Russian and US tank crews, Shoigu said, adding that the event will take place sometime next year.

Russia will host the world’s first ever tank biathlon championship next week. The country’s best tank crews will compete against each other at a firing range outside Moscow, the winners then taking on competitors from Armenia, Belorussia and Kazakhstan.

The new sport allows showcasing the quality of Russian tanks, comparing them against foreign analogues, Shoigu’s deputy Yury Borisov said Saturday.

MORE...

http://en.rian.ru/world/20130810/182693682/Russia-Challenges-US-in-Tank-Biathlon.html

[Aristus]

1. This is nothing new to tankers.

The Canadian Army Trophy has hosted marksmanship contests internationally for tank crews for years.

I wish I could compete in this one. With the exception of the T-34, Russian tanks have historically been of poor quality, and the designers favored ruggedness and ease of manufacture over quality and marksmanship. I wonder how good the new generation of Russian tanks is?...

[Recursion]

2. Did they finally figure out to add a bottom hatch

so that the crew can can make a head call without leaving the tank?

[Brigid]

4. You know, that's something I never thought of.

Did you once serve on a tank crew?

[Aristus]

5. That's a lot easier on the older Russian designs that lack a turret basket.

A ventral hatch was easy for ingress and egress without a turret basket. The downside was for the loader, who, during fire operations, had to chase the gun breech around the turret during traverse.

My tank, The M1 Abrams series, had a turret basket, which made a ventral hatch nearly impossible to use.

[rdharma]

3. Those Russians aren't dumb. They've got a bunch of old tanks they would like to sell.

And what better worldwide advertisement?

[jakeXT]

6. Who gets the pink color ?

The newspaper offered a preview of the new sport, covering a test competition held outside Moscow earlier this week. The event involved four tanks painted in bright colors – including yellow and pinkish red – which did three laps over rough terrain, shooting at targets shaped like tanks, houses and helicopters. The best time was 5:28