CAT.

This is coolbert:

From StrategyPage as copied in entirety the Russian now emulating NATO and much to their credit. Tank gunnery competition crews demonstrating their proficiency. Driving skills also tested.

"Finding The Best Tank Crew In Russia"

  "July 12, 2013: In its continuing efforts to improve the capabilities of its armed forces, Russia has introduced a competition based on actual tasks a tank crew would be called on to perform in combat. The training course is ten kilometers long and each time a tank goes through it they are called on to halt when a target appears and fire one of their three weapons (main gun, machine-gun, or long range missile fired from the main gun barrel).The fourth event is an obstacle course where crews are graded on time and accuracy (not hitting certain obstacles). The crews are ranked according to their scores and those that do the best are rewarded in one way or another."

"Such competitions are costly, especially when they involve all similar units in the army, navy, or air force. But in the West such competitions were found to be worth the additional cost and effort. They are a big boost to morale as well because of the competitive element, and this is especially true for the teams (and the unit they are from) who win overall. Russia has picked up on this and has made these elaborate and expensive training/testing methods part of their military reforms."

"The Russian now emulating NATO".

This was CAT Canadian Army Trophy. Multi-national tank competition by NATO as held for decades which has apparently been discontinued as of the First Gulf War.

"The Canadian Army Trophy (CAT) was a tank gunnery competition established to foster excellence, camaraderie and competition among the armoured forces of the NATO countries in Western Europe."

"Scoring was based on target hits, hit times, ammunition bonuses (only if all targets were hit), and hit bonuses (only if all targets were hit), machine gun hits, and penalties with a maximum platoon score of 22,600 points. The main gun targets were at ranges between 1,600-3,000 meters and would remain standing after being hit until presentation time, 40 seconds, had expired. No target would be presented twice, so the judges could actually count holes in the targets to verify target hits; 'cookie bites' did not count as hits."

This NATO competition held for about thirty years, the various tank crews from those countries a part of the alliance displaying their mettle in almost real-world combat conditions NO ONE NATION DEMONSTRATING A DOMINATION OR AN EXPERTISE OVER THEIR RIVALS. AMERICAN TANKERS NOT NECESSARILY FARING SO WELL IN THE COMPETITION AS I UNDERSTAND!

"Such competitions are costly".

Without question this is so. The cost of firing ONE LIVE ROUND from the main gun of an English Chieftain tank costing $3,000 per shot.

And the wear and tear on a tank even in training quite severe, the longevity of a tank quite short.

Tank gunnery since the time of CAT is now quite different? A devoted reader to the blog knows better? Those gun stabilizer and laser range finders make the first shot hit a more or less certainty. And rounds now fired on the move and not after a stop as was the case during CAT?

coolbert.