More Armored Oddities of Syria/Iraq

March 5, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Back in mid-January we presented a photo gallery of some of the armored oddities from Syria and Iraq that have shown up around the web.  Here is an update to that earlier post.

First, lets start with armored pickup trucks.

 

Next we have a variety of armored trucks, gun trucks and other wheeled vehicles.

 

Here are some construction vehicles converted to armored vehicles.

 

Our final gallery consists of various armored personal carriers modified with extra armor and/or cannons.  The 23mm ZU-23 seems to be a particular favorite for mounting on these vehicles.

 

Credit to LooSeR over at SH forum for digging up most of these.

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Armored Oddities of Syria/Iraq

January 18, 2016 by 4 Comments

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.

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Iraqi mechanic salvages old vehicles to fight Islamic State

March 11, 2015 by Leave a Comment

A metalworker rides a tank as he check the engine in BasraReuters Canada has published an article about an Iraqi former army mechanic that is attempting to repair Saddam era armored vehicles in order to fight against the Islamic State.  The mechanic, identified as Madhi al-Sukaini, is quoted saying “The scrap yard where thousands of bits of army equipment are dumped is close to where I live and it was a constant reminder of the long war with Iran.  One time I passed by and an idea flashed in my mind: Why don’t I repair some of the dumped armored vehicles to help in the war against Daesh?”  The article notes that so far, al-Sukaini and his sons have restored a MT-LB to running order and also mounted a 23mm cannon on it in an improvised armored turret.  Full article here. 

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250 Swedish BMP-1 vehicles shipped to Iraq illegally

March 5, 2015 by Leave a Comment

filename_813According to Defense World.net, two hundred fifty Swedish armored vehicles, BMP-1 are “secretly” being shipped to Iraq by a Czech company illegally.  In 2010, the Swedish Defence Material Administration, FMV, sold 350 light tanks to a state-run Czech company.  But the state-run company turned out to be a middleman for the private Czech company Excalibur, which will now sell 250 BMD-tanks to Iraq.  The problem is that due to the Swedish export rules, FMV wouldn’t have sold the weapons to the Czech Republic if they had known the end customer was Iraq.  Full article here.

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Czechs to sell T-72 tanks and APCs to Iraq

February 7, 2015 by Leave a Comment

filename_812Czech News Agency is reporting that Czech firm Excalibur Army will be delivering 100 T-72 tanks and BVP-1 armored personal carriers to Iraq.  These vehicles are slated to help Iraq fight the Islamic State.  This follows deal that Excalibur Army recently made to sell T-72 tanks to Nigeria to help them battle Boko Haram.  Excalibur Army primarily deals with older former Warsaw Pact equipment such as T-55 and T-72 tanks, BMP-1 IFV, and OT-64 and BRDM-2 wheeled vehicles.  They also produce the DANA M1 CZ self-propelled howitzer and the BVP-M2 SKCZ.

Czech News Agency article here.

Excalibur Army products catalog here.

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