Russian Tank Championships
![Russian Armed Forces, Tank Biathlon championship, Prudboy training ground, Volgograd region, Southern MD, 3 April 2019 [1180]](https://combat.camera/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2019/04/Russian-Armed-Forces-Tank-Biathlon-championship-Prudboy-training-ground-Volgograd-region-Southern-MD-3-April-2019-1180-300x300.jpg)
Russian Tank Biathlon championship, Prudboy training ground, Volgograd region, Southern MD, 3 April 2019
The Commander of the Southern Military District, Colonel General Alexander Dvornikov, was at the Prudboy training ground, Volgograd region, to assess the performance of the tank crews within the district stage of the International Army Games 2019. Crews demonstrated their skills in operating the T-72B3 tank, competed in an individual race with combat shooting and overcoming obstacles.
Military Units Featured
8th Guards Order of Lenin Combined Arms Army
The 8th Guards Order of Lenin Combined Arms Army is an army of the Russian Ground Forces, headquartered in Novocherkassk, Rostov Oblast, within Russia′s Southern Military District. It was reinstated in 2017 as a successor to the 8th Guards Army of the Soviet Union’s Red Army (later Soviet Army), which was formed during World War II and was disbanded in 1998 after being downsized into a corps. The Army includes Guards tank regiments.
49th Combined Arms Army
The 49th Combined Arms Army (Russian: 49-я общевойсковая армия) is a combined arms (field) army of the Russian Ground Forces, formed in 2010 and headquartered in Stavropol. Part of the Southern Military District, the army traces its heritage back to the Soviet Red Army’s 49th Army, formed in 1941 after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II. The 49th Army served through the entire war and was disbanded postwar in the summer of 1945.
58th Combined Arms Army
The 58th Combined Arms Army (Russian: 58-я общевойсковая армия) is an army of the Russian Ground Forces, headquartered at Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia-Alania, within Russia’s Southern Military District. It was formed in 1941 as part of the Soviet Union’s Red Army and has been part of the Russian Army since 1995.
Military Equipment Featured
T-72B3 Main Battle Tank
The T-72 is a family of Soviet main battle tanks that first entered production in 1971.[7] About 20,000 T-72 tanks were built,[8] making it one of the most widely produced post-World War II tanks, second only to the T-54/55 family. The T-72A version introduced in 1979 is considered a second-generation main battle tank. It was widely exported and saw service in 40 countries and in numerous conflicts. The T-72B3 version introduced in 2010 is considered a third-generation main battle tank. The 44.5 tonne tank is armed with a 125mm 246M-5 smooth bore gun.
Photographer
Unknown. Copyright Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. Used under licence.