On the afternoon of September 4, the Vietnamese tank team won the Group 2 Tank Biathlon 2020 championship after a tense final match at the Alabino training ground, on the outskirts of the Russian capital Moscow.
This is a proud achievement for the Vietnamese team, because this is only the third time Vietnamese soldiers have competed in a major international tank race organized by Russia.
Vietnamese crew trains on T-54 tanks in Vinh Phuc.
In Table 2 Tank Biathlon 2020, there are two of the eight countries that do not staff T-72 tanks, including Vietnam and Qatar.
In the semi-finals and finals, Vietnam was also the only country among the 5 competing countries that did not staff the T-72 main tank, and the soldiers did not have much time to get used to the vehicle before competing.
The absence of T-72 tanks caused Vietnamese team members to face many difficulties during training for the tournament.
The seating position of the crew and the layout and arrangement of weapons on the T-54 are very different from those of the T-72.
Each crew member, in addition to intensive training, must also learn Russian and research the features of the T-72B3 tank through documents.
Each T-72B3 crew consists of 3 people, including the vehicle commander who is also the loader and shooter of the 12.7mm machine gun, gunner and driver, while the T-54 crew has 4 people with separate loading positions.
The T-54’s 100 mm bullets are one piece, while the T-72 uses a separate 125 mm warhead and launch dose, different in structure, mass and ballistics, making it difficult to stack, load and fire.
5 matches to the championship of the Vietnamese tank team
5 matches brought Vietnam to the Tank Biathlon 2020 championship. Video: QPVN, Zvezda.
Professional military lieutenant Phan Anh Tuan, who won the best artilleryman award for destroying all targets at the Tank Biathlon 2019 semi-finals, said that when being selected for the team, `you have to determine a higher training intensity than
The hot weather in Vietnam, sometimes reaching 39-40 degrees Celsius, greatly affects the physical and mental health of the crew.
The sports field and training ground in Vinh Phuc are also much smaller than the Alabino sports field on the outskirts of Moscow, Russia, not ensuring the arrangement of obstacles and distance like the competition venue.
Despite many disadvantages in training and competition, the Vietnamese team still won convincingly in the final match amid the choking emotions of the soldiers and spectators.
