The ongoing conflicts in Syria and Iraq have produced a number of unusual armored vehicles. These range from manufactured armor upgrades for main battle tanks to one of a kind homemade armored bulldozers. We scoured a few internet forums and gathered up some of the more interesting photos into the gallery below. Most of these photos came from here and here.
This first gallery is of tanks and AFVs with different types of add-on armor attached. Some of these are the result of actual government programs, some are obviously “in the field” expedients.
Slat and chain armor for T-72
T-72
T-72
T-72
Syrian T-72 tanks with slat armor
T-62 with sandbags
T-62
T-62
T-55
T-62 with unusual armor (old shell casings?)
T-55 protected by slat armor and poster of Assad
T-55
T-55
T-55 with shells stored under slat armor. This seems like a bad idea to us.
T-55
T-55
BMP with tire/sandbag “armor”
BMP-1
M113 APC with ZU-23-2 mounted on top
MT-LB with add-on armor
This next gallery of is of oddball vehicles converted into AFVs.
Tank and AFV News 
Gotta give the Syrians credit for one thing: they copied the Israelis with regards to the ball-on chain (earings) used on the early Merkavot on the turret to intercept AT warheads…..
Must bug the sh*t out of them to know they are emulating a Jewish invention……..
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In the Fortress Farm series, rural folks in America turn trucks into armored vehicles and tack hoes into tanks for bandits/outlaws. (Post-apocalyptic setting) If the middle east can do this, imagine what our farmers could conjure up!
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Interesting; I’ll have to look that series up on Amazon, though I don’t have nearly enough time to read the many books I already own!
The first image that I conjured up when reading your post was that of the crazed welder, Marvin Heemeyer, who up-armored a huge earthmover and went on a rampage in his small Colorado town in 2004!
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