A sports tank is being developed in Nizhny Tagil

A special-purpose combat vehicle designed for the Tank biathlon might appear in Russia in a few years.

According to Alexei Khlopotov, a military blogger, a private engineering company from Nizhny Tagil has displayed a unique version of sports tank.

Authors of the idea are Alexandr Yakovlev, chief designer of “Engineer Centre-NT” and the BMPT designer, and Alexei Khlopotov himself.  

“Design of the vehicle is based on the serial model as well as on some developments of the past, which remained unclaimed for various reasons. In case the customer feels interested, “sports tank” might be developed within a year while it will take 2 years to develop a combat version”- Khlopotov noted.  

It was reported earlier that Bauman MSTU was working on a new training 125mm shell for the military that can be used in the Tank biathlon to shoot at targets and for practice shooting.

Tank biathlon, like ski-race, is carried out in the form of relay and includes 3 trials of armored vehicles which must cover the routes of over 20 kilometers. Participants must overcome a few obstacles such as slalom (the S-turn), burial mount (sharp hill) and tracked bridge. Unlike the traditional biathlon, crews of the combat vehicles kill the targets which simulate tanks and low-flying helicopters within 900 to 2200 meters’ range. 

The Voentorg company patented the Tank biathlon brand in March this year.