The Zimbabwean army which is competing in the Russian tank biathlon produced another miserable performance yesterday as the crew struggle to hit a big red target just a few meters away. This poor performance comes a few days after the same team put one of the worst showings in the history of tank biathlon games where they completed the tasks in 58:55 mins without hitting a single target and double the amount of time that their opponents took to complete the same task.
To add to this poor performance, the commanders were unable to load the machine gun and discarded the ammunition without firing at the target. As the game proceed the team struggle to communicate with each other and had to ask Russian technicians for assistance. The Zimbabwean team is using the famous T72 tank which is equipped with a 125 mm cannon with a smooth barrel having a range of fire of 4,500 meters. It also uses a 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun, it is possible to attack low-flying targets. A 7.62 mm machine gun is coaxial with the cannon. Systems capable of protecting the crew against the effects of mass destruction weapons are incorporated within the tank.
Basic Technical Data about the T72 Tank
- Combat weight: 41,000 kg
- Crew: 3
- Length with cannon to the front: 9,530 mm
- Height with turret: 2,190 mm
- Width: 3,460 mm
- Maximum road speed: 60 km per hour
- Maximum off-road speed: 35 to 45 km per hour
- Fuel tanks capacity: 1,590 liters
- Road operation range: 420 to 600 km
