Bronze winning tank crew arrived in Serbia

Members of the team of the Serbian Armed Forces, who took the third place in the tank biathlon in Russia, landed last night at the Nikola Tesla Airport, where they were welcomed by Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces Lieutenant General Jovica Draganic and the Army Commander Lieutenant General Milosav Simovic.

Congratulating on the great success, General Draganic pointed out that our tank crew showing their military skills, expertise, work and physical readiness impressed everyone and made the Serbian Armed Forces and the Republic of Serbia proud.

- You showed that the Serbian Armed Forces has superior tank crews that can compete with the best ones in the world and, in a demanding competition, in which the teamwork, training and skills are fully expressed, leave behind the members of the Armed Forces of even much more strength – General Draganic stressed, adding that their success is even greater bearing in mind the competitors with whom they had fought for the placement.

According to the head of our team, Colonel Zeljko Kuzmanovic, many months of preparations upgraded with the last year's experience from the tank biathlon in Moscow paid off.

- Our goal was to achieve the highest possible ranking among the countries that were to participate, many of which are great powers in tank forces, and we succeeded, Kuzmanovic said, adding that the medal from Moscow is a confirmation that our tank crews possess superior knowledge, skills and training level, noting that they could easily win the second position.

- However, we must be pleased with the result considering that Russia and China are those in front of us and India, Kazakhstan and Armenia, which have much stronger forces and armored units than our country, are behind us, Kuzmanovic said, pointing out that our tank crews can also be counted on for the next year.

One of the tank drivers who participated in the tank biathlon last year, leader of the second tank crew, Lieutenant Vladica Tasic points out that this year's preparations were far better, because all the previously identified shortcomings were removed.

- I hope that I will participate again next year and be able to pass the selection in our country. Every year the interest is growing, and there are many more quality tank drivers who deserve to participate, Tasic says, adding that this year's experience will be of great use also for the next year.

In Saturday's final, after the uncertain and tense race full of twists and turns, the Serbian Armed Forces team won the third place in this year's tank biathlon. Russia came in first, while the second-ranked was China. Defence Minister Bratislav Gasic attended the final race of the most important competition of the International Military Games and, at the winner announcement ceremony, Second Lieutenants Vladica Tasic and Strahinja Grbic and Private 1st Class Sasa Karadzic were awarded medals by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.

"Tank biathlon 2015" was held at the training ground Alabino not far from Moscow, and the Serbian armoured unit members competed with teams of the Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Mongolia, Kuwait, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Angola. All national teams competed on the Russian tanks T-72, except for China, that participated in its own combat vehicles type T-96A.