Tank biathlon

The first international tank biathlon competition was held at the Alabino proving ground in the Moscow Oblast, on 12–17 August 2013. Four teams took part in the competition: Russia, Armenia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Place	Team	Range 1		Range 2		Range 3		Total time
		H	P	H	P	H	P
1	Russia	1	0	0	0	2	0	23:44
2	Kazakhstan	0	1	1	0	1	2	24:36
3	Belarus	0	0	1	0	2	1	25:25
4	Armenia	0	1	1	0	1	2	29:48

The 1st Tank Biathlon World Championship took place at the Alabino proving ground on 4–16 August 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.

Random selection placed teams under following colors:

Color	Team
1	Russia
2	Mongolia
3	Venezuela
4	Kazakhstan
5	Belarus
6	Armenia
7	China
8	Serbia
9	Kyrgyzstan
10	India
11	Angola
12	Kuwait

First legs of the tournament consisted of:

• Individual race
• Sprint
• Pursuit
• Athletic stage

The final competition was a relay race, the top 4 teams fielded all their crews taking turns.

Total time	Team
75:14	Russia
80:03	Armenia
90:56	China
94:11	Kazakhstan

A Chinese Type 96A at the 2015 tank biathlon

The second event of the series took part on 1–15 August 2015 at the same venue in Alabino. This year the Tank Biathlon was held as a headliner of the 2015 International Army Games that included similar competitions for all things military, from artillery (Masters of Fire) and air force (Aviadarts) to field kitchens.

The athletic stage for the crews was removed from schedule.

Veteran of both previous events, Team Belarus decided to participate in the Army Games "only in the disciplines where we are absolutely ready" and thus didn't apply for the Tank Biathlon (after finishing only 5th last year). Consequently, Belarus won 3 gold, 50 silver and 249 bronze awards and finished 3rd in the total medal score of the Army Games, being surpassed only by Russia and China.

The Nicaragua and Tajikistan national teams joined the event for the first time.

All teams were piloting upgraded T-72B3 tanks, excluding Team China which continued to field its own Type 96A.

List of participants with color scheme:

Color	Team
1	Russia
2	Venezuela
3	Armenia
4	Kyrgyzstan
5	Nicaragua
6	Angola
7	China
8	Tajikistan
9	Mongolia
10	Kazakhstan
11	India
12	Serbia
13	Kuwait

The third Tank Biathlon took place in Alabino as part of the 2nd International Army Games on 30 July–13 August.[4]

Place	Team
1	Russia
2	China
3	Kazakhstan
4	Belarus
5	Serbia
6	India
7	Azerbaijan
8	Mongolia
9	Armenia
10	Kyrgyzstan
11	Angola
12	Iran

The fourth Tank Biathlon took place in Alabino, Moscow Region. The countries used the same type of tanks as in previous year (T-72B3 and Type-96B), with the exception of India fielding T-90 Bhishma. New Delhi Television reported that the Indian Army felt disadvantaged using T-72B3 tanks provided by Russia in 2016 and was keen to field its best tanks and best crews in 2017. However, as a result of both T-90 Bhishma tanks (the main one and the reserve one) malfunctioning, the Indian squad was unable to complete the race and were disqualified before 1/2 final.[5][6]

After seven days of contests, Team Russia won 11 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze awards and finished 1st in the overall ratings, and Team China achieved second place with 7 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze.[7]

Place	Team
1	Russia
2	China
3	Kazakhstan
4	Belarus
5	Azerbaijan
6	Serbia
7	Iran
8	Mongolia
9	Venezuela
10	Armenia
11	Kyrgyzstan
12	India