1st Tanks better get ready.

via DefenseTalk.

Blurring the line between sports and warfare, the Russian army premiered a new sport – tank biathlon – and invited US crews to compete. Russian news agency Novosti reports. “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.
Next week’s event, however, will be limited to T-72 tanks, the staple of post-Soviet militaries, Vedomosti business daily said Friday. 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.

Hmmm.

Does anyone in the West practice Tank ballet the way the Russians do?  By that I mean driving them like maniacs, jumping them over small mounds etc....

Centauro Tank Destroyers and Ariete B1 MBT 

The Germans did at one time but I think those days have passed.  Do the Italians?  And exactly what will they send?  The Centauro or the Ariete MBT? Who is going to represent the US?  Army or Marines?  1st Tanks should have the edge in the Marines...all those guys do is run the ranges at 29 Palms and pull maintenance.  For the Army?  I have absolutely no idea.  I guess the jokers from the 1st ID might have a leg up.  They're still heavy (I believe) and they do the same thing except on the plains.

I really wish Hagel would have thought a moment before he reflexively accepted.  This is going to be a marketing bonanza for the Russians...all because they'll be able to highlight an extremely small, super cramped, malfunctioning autoloading, mechanically unreliable Main Battle Tank against it betters from the West on a Russian designed "war game".

I see the Brits and French are steering clear...at least so far.  Good for them.  This is going to be a cluster.