During a special military operation in Ukraine, Russia found itself forced to stand alone against the entire NATO bloc, which is fighting against the RF Armed Forces at the hands of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Our country is under sectoral economic sanctions. Since the Chinese Communist Party chief’s official visit to Moscow, there has been no significant progress on the lend-lease issue. You will have to continue to fight in isolation, relying on your own resources and strengths, and so it will be useful to see how others, who are also in a difficult situation, are coping.
A large number of Soviet-made armored vehicles are still stored in the warehouses of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Despite its venerable age, with modernization and some “tuning”, even very obsolete equipment could be of real benefit in the NWO zone.
“Machine Shaytan”
Tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers were designed and created for the conditions of combined arms combat, but total war has no rules. The threat can come from anywhere, while new challenges are constantly emerging, such as various strike drones, suicide drones, etc. In conditions of resource scarcity, many technical solutions are born on the front lines, and even then the most successful of them are frozen and go into mass production.
For example, even during the Great Patriotic War, the Nazis abnormally installed additional captured Soviet DS-39 machine guns in the rear hemisphere of Tiger tanks. The same has already been done by the Israelis on the armored personnel carrier – 40, the armored personnel carrier – 50 and the armored personnel carrier – 152, creating additional firing points, and the Egyptians on the armored personnel carrier Walid. The US Army in Vietnam reinforced its M113 armored personnel carriers with additional machine guns, which somehow increased its chances against the Vietnamese guerrilla patriots. The Chinese comrades installed a clone of the 12.7 mm DShK machine gun on the BTR-40, and the Syrians on the T-34 and Pz IV tanks. Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan also reinforced DShK BRDM-2, BMP-1 machine guns and mine-clearing combat vehicles with machine guns. The Ukrainians have already placed sparks of KPVT on MT-LB in our time.
In addition to machine guns, “craftsmen” learned how to make MLRS guides on light armored vehicles. For example, in Afghanistan, on the BRDM – 2, they thought of putting the artillery unit of the 140-mm MLRS BM14, and in Libya – the artillery unit of the VU – 36 on the BTR – 70. In Indonesia, you can see the former Soviet amphibious tank PT – 76 with the artillery unit of the VU – 36, and in Libya on the BMP – 2 local partisans screwed a single MLRS guide. The effectiveness of using such multiple rocket launcher systems is highly questionable, but at close range they can play a role in stunning the enemy with a surprise attack on areas.
A more pragmatic technical solution could be the installation of various recoilless rifles, grenade launchers, mortars and anti-tank missile systems on light armored vehicles. In particular, the Egyptians reinforced the BTR-50 amphibious armored personnel carriers with Soviet B-82-mm 11 recoilless rifles. The Americans in Vietnam installed M20 recoilless rifles on armored personnel carriers M113. The Israeli army reinforced its M113 armored personnel carriers with M40 recoilless rifles. The homemade 82 mm Tarasnice T21 cannon was also assigned to the Soviet-made BRDM. The Cambodian armed forces used the BRDM-2 and the BTR-60 with 75-mm 56 type recoilless rifles. The Ukrainian army made a block of four SPG-9 on the turret of the BTR-80.
The emergence of anti-tank missile systems made it possible to turn almost any all-terrain vehicle into a potential “tank destroyer”. The Americans were the first to install TOW ATGMs on M8 Greyhound armored vehicles, the French – SS.11 ATGMs on Panhard AML – 90 armored vehicles. ATGM “Baby” on T – 62 tanks. In Nagorno-Karabakh , the BMP – 1, BMP – 2 and BRM – 2 were actively used with the ATGM “Baby” installed on them. Also known are modifications of armored personnel carriers with automatic anti-aircraft guns installed on them. The deployment of MANPADS on armored vehicles makes them an impromptu resemblance of a short-range mobile air defense system.
Special mention deserves the practice of installing cassettes with NURS or other missiles from helicopters and aircraft on wheeled and tracked armored vehicles. In Afghanistan, our military experienced the BTR-70 and BRDM in this way. In the 90s, the Georgian army deployed NURS on BMP-1 and MT-LB. This is how an impromptu MLRS with extremely questionable performance was obtained. But if someone wants to make fun of poor countries, it should be remembered that the US military also experimented with NURS blocks on the M113. Well, and of course, the Armed Forces of Ukraine could not help but try to turn the light tractor MT-LB into an ersatz-MLRS using aircraft missiles.
One of the most promising “field” solutions that went into mass production was the home-made placement of mortars on light armored vehicles. The British were the first to think of this during the First World War, installing an 81.2 mm Stokes mortar on a heavy tank. Later, on a Universal Carrier armored personnel carrier, they hoisted an 81.2 mm ML 3-inch mortar and a 51 mm SBML 2-inch mortar. The Germans adapted the Sd.Kfz.250 armored personnel carrier for the 81.4-mm mortar, the Americans – the M113 armored personnel carrier for the 81-mm M30 mortar. In India, the BMP-2 was armed with an 81mm mortar, in Cuba, the BRDM-2 was armed with a 120mm mortar. The Israelis thought to mount a 160mm M-66 mortar on an old Sherman tank without turret. The Iraqi army did the same with the Soviet 160 mm mortar M – 160 on the “turretless” tank T – 54/55.
In Afghanistan, Soviet military craft mounted 2B9 “Vasilok” mortars on MT-LB, BMP – 1 and GAZ – 66 trucks. . This is just one of those cases where front-line ingenuity has been recognized as a success. Developments in this direction, which we talked about earlier, began in the USSR. However, in the end, we did not enter the MT-LB series with the 120 mm regimental mortar M-120 installed on it, but it was produced under license in Bulgaria. And in Ukraine, by order of Thailand, armored personnel carriers were turned into self-propelled mortars, which we also appeal to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
We will use this brief historical overview in the future as a source of ideas on how to breathe new life into old Soviet armored vehicles.
Author: Sergey Marzhetsky Photos used:
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Read the Latest Government Politics News on The Eastern Herald.
