MOSCOW, June 17 (Itar-Tass) - Competitions in “tank biathlon” have taken place in Chechnya and the Stavropol territory for the first time in the history of the Southern Military District, Colonel Igor Gorbul, the press service chief of the Southern Military District, told Itar-Tass on Monday.
"Two simultaneous competitions in “tank biathlon” have started on testing grounds in Chechnya and the Stavropol territory for the first time,” Gorbul said.
“We regard the competitions to be a new method of training the troops and one of the ways to check the skills of tank men required for fulfilling combat tasks in conditions of modern warfare. The route is 8-10 kilometers long. It is equipped with obstacles and a shooting sector as well as with a 500-meter penalty loop.
On the first loop, the crew is to fire three shots from the tank turret to destroy the target from a distance of 1,800, 1,700 and 1,500 kilometers. On the second loop, the crew is to destroy targets imitating hand anti-tank grenade launchers and an infantry group from a coaxial machine-gun at a distance of 600 and 700 meters. On the third loop, the fire is delivered from an anti-aircraft machine-gun at anti-tank guns and anti-tank ground missile launchers at a range of 1,200 meters. Crews that hit all the targets make it to the finish. Crews go on a penalty loop if it fails to destroy the target.
At the final stage, tank drivers will have to ride through impassible areas and overcome various obstacles. The total time increases by ten seconds if the driver knocks down or touches a post or runs into a hurdle. The total result consists of the general time it takes to cover the distance and extra time imposed as a penalty for failure to fulfill estimated figures when surmounting the obstacles.