Oryx: Exotic Armour

Showing posts with label Exotic Armour. Show all posts

Sunday, 6 August 2023

Guardians Of The Pearl: Uganda’s Inventory Of AFVs

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

Over the past decade, Uganda has quietly embarked on a significant modernisation drive. This ambitious effort has seen the acquisition of Su-30MK2 multi-role fighter aircraft, Mi-28N attack helicopters and T-90S MBTs from Russia. Additionally, the country has invested in advanced weapons systems from Israel, such as 155mm ATMOS SPGs, 120mm SPEAR Mk.2 and CARDOM SPMs, as well as Hermes 900 UAVs. To further supplement its ground forces, Uganda has also obtained Type-85-IIM MBTs and VN2C APCs from China and 240mm 'M-1991 MRLs from North Korea.

Sunday, 2 April 2023

A Far Cry: Yara’s HS-100 Tanks

Oryx armour , Exotic Armour 0 Comments

By Teslashark in collaboration with Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

There are lions, and there are lambs. Rule, or be ruled. A Castillo must be a lion. For Yara is full of lambs. (By Antón Castillo)

The 2021 Yaran Civil War was largely overshadowed by the Nagorno-Karabakh War one year prior and the Russo-Ukrainian War shortly thereafter. The war quickly proved a single-cell thunderstorm similar in intensity to the former, yet located right in the middle of America's Caribbean backyard. A significant number of armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) were deployed by both the Fuerzas Nacionales de Defensa loyal to the brutal regime of Antón Castillo and the opposing rebel alliance known as Libertad. One of the AFVs that saw intensive action on both sides was a deceptively unassuming tank, the HS-100. Often misidentified and reported as a T-55 or T-62 by even the most seasoned military analysts, the HS-100 MBT is the perfect embodiment of the tumultuous history of the Caribbean island nation of Yara.

Wednesday, 4 January 2023

Fading History: Türkiye’s Soviet Tanks

Oryx Armoured Car , BA-3 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

It is not often that a tank is so uncommon that it has eluded correct identification by even the most seasoned military enthusiasts. Nevertheless, this appears to be the case with the Soviet T-37A amphibious light tank, one example of which was supplied to Türkiye in 1934. Incorrectly IDed as an indigenously-designed amphibious light tank supposedly designated as the MKE Kırıkkale M-1943, this innocent misinterpretation might have well been the result of the scarcity of information available on Soviet weapons shipments to the Turkish Army in the early to mid-1930s.

Tuesday, 3 January 2023

Gaddafi’s Massive Artillery Force That Kept On Fighting A Year After His Death

Oryx Exotic Armour , First Libyan Civil War 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

"All of the great prophets of modern times have come from the desert and were uneducated: Mohammed, Jesus and myself." (By Muammar Gaddafi)

Rumours of organised pro-Gaddafi resistance have persisted since the end of the First Libyan Civil War in late 2011. With the exception of a number of attacks and car bombings in 2012 to 2014, an organised resistance movement never truly materialised however. Instead, the second son of the late Libyan leader Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is seeking to regain his father's power through political means, and in November 2021 attempted to register as a candidate in the 2021 Libyan presidential election but was rejected. [1] This decision was overturned less than a month later, reinstating him as a presidential candidate for the elections that are now scheduled to take place at some point in 2023. [2]

Monday, 26 December 2022

Know Thy Enemy: Türkiye’s T-55A MBT

Oryx Ankara , Etimesgut Tank Müzesi 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

On display at the Etimesgut Tank Müzesi near Ankara are a great number of exotic AFVs. This includes the country's first true tank, the T-26, which was acquired from the Soviet Union in the 1930s, and even German Panzer III and IV tanks received in 1943. These are generally maintained in a moderately fine condition, though they all have lost their original camouflage patterns and some overzealous museum director has installed massive fake gun barrels on all tanks he must have deemed underwhelming. Between AFVs such as the R-35, the Cemal Tural APC and M48 stands another AFV that although anything but rare, is still a surprising find in a Turkish Army tank collection: A Czechoslovak-made T-55A MBT. [1]

Friday, 23 December 2022

Achtung – Panzer! - German Panzer IIIs And Panzer IVs In Turkish Service

Oryx Exotic Armour , Germany 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

The use of Leopard 1A3 and Leopard 2A4 MBTs by the Turkish Army is quite well known, with Türkiye even deploying the latter in combat against Islamic State in late 2016. Yet the story of German-made Panzers in Türkiye doesn't start with the delivery of the first Leopard 1s in the 1980s, but rather with the delivery of Panzer III Ausf. Ms and Panzer IV Ausf. Gs from Nazi Germany in 1943. Here they joined an exotic inventory of tanks and other AFVs already in service with the Turkish Army. In fact, Türkiye is the only country in the world to have operated tanks from nearly all major players of the Second World War, including the Soviet Union, the UK, Germany, the U.S. and France.

Monday, 14 November 2022

A Caucasian Contraption: Armenia’s BMP-1-ZUs

Oryx Armenia , Armenian Army 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

Armenia's attempts at increasing the fighting efficacy of its forces has seen it designing and producing anything from lightweight MRLs, remote-controlled machine guns that can be fired from the safety of a trench to various types of drones and even IR dazzlers to protect tanks against the threat of anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs). [1] [2] Most of these designs have remained shrouded in obscurity as a result of their low production numbers and the fact that little attention was ever devoted to the Armed Forces of Armenia, despite it being engaged in active conflict for decades.

Tuesday, 1 November 2022

Beastly Belarusian: The Volat V2 IFV

Oryx Belarus , BMP-2 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

The Belarusian Army has for the most part experienced a drought in new acquisitions since its founding in 1992. Much of the scarcely available funding for new acquisitions has been used for the purchase of combat aircraft and air defence systems, most often acquired at friendly prices from Russia. The Ground Forces have been the recipient of 25 T-72B3 Obr. 2016 MBTs and some 65 BTR-82A(M) IFVs from Russia, while China has donated 22 EQ2058s and an unknown number of CS/VN3 infantry mobility vehicles (IMVs) since 2012. China is also the source of the technology behind the Belarusian Polonez guided MRL/SRBM system, which entered service with the Belarusian Army in 2015.

Tuesday, 18 October 2022

Friendship Through Arms: Turkmenistan’s Fighting Vehicles

Oryx Ashgabat , BMP-3 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

Turkmenistan has accumulated an exotic arsenal of armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) acquired from a colourful range of countries worldwide. Intriguingly, at least some of those acquisitions appear to stem from an intention of increasing ties with a particular country rather than of actually fulfilling a genuine military requirement for that type of equipment. This 'friendship through arms' policy comes at the cost of an increasingly complicated logistic system that by now has to source spare parts from nine different countries for Turkmenistan's fleet of infantry mobility vehicles (IMVs) alone!

Monday, 10 October 2022

Central Asian Armour: Kyrgyzstan’s Inventory of AFVs

Oryx Bayraktar TB2 , Bishkek 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

Though home to elements of the 17th Army Corps of the Central Asian Military District, Kyrgyzstan inherited little in the way of (modern) military equipment after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In fact, it can be argued that Kyrgyzstan was the worst off of all post-Soviet states when it comes to the military assets they inherited (with the exception of the Baltic states). With little investments having been directed to the Kyrgyz Army since, the country's inventory in many ways resembles that of the Soviet Army during the late 1970s. The acquisition of three Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs for the State Border Guard in 2021 represents the biggest military investment by Kyrgyzstan so far, and these were used with high effect during the September 2022 border skirmishes with Tajikistan. [1]

Thursday, 6 October 2022

The Oryx Handbook Of Iranian Fighting Vehicles

Oryx Bavar , Boragh 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

The goal of this list is to comprehensively catalogue Iran's current inventory of vehicles and equipment. In an effort to streamline the list and avoid unnecessary confusion, civilian trucks towing military trailers and military trucks on which missiles, rockets or radars are based are not included in the list. Vehicles captured or produced during the Iran-Iraq War and subsequently only used for a short period of time are not included in this list. To avoid confusion over the names of certain SAM systems, the names of the missiles used on these SAM systems are sometimes indicated. If several configurations of a vehicle with one designation are known, they are added as such. The part within the apostrophes refers to other designations or an unofficial designation. When available, the range (of missiles) are added. As this list relies on OSINT, the range should be used as a rough indication rather than a precise estimate.

Tuesday, 4 October 2022

Central Asian Armour: Tajikistan’s Inventory Of AFVs

Oryx Ababil-2 , CS/SS4 SPM 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

The Tajik National Army operates an exotic inventory of armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) inherited from the Soviet Army in 1991 and acquired or received from China, Russia and the U.S. since. In addition, the Tajik Army has undertaken a number of indigenous projects to improve the fighting characteristics of several AFV types. Situated in Central Asia, Tajikistan is bordered by Kyrgyzstan to the north, China to the east, Afghanistan to the south and Uzbekistan to the west. Tajikistan was embroiled in a civil war that ravaged the country from 1992 to 1997, and has fought several border skirmishes with Kyrgyzstan over the poorly demarcated border between both countries.

Saturday, 27 August 2022

Photo Report: Haftar’s Last Parade

Oryx Benghazi , Exotic Armour 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

The following photos were taken during a Libyan National Army (LNA) parade to commemorate the 7th anniversary of Operation Dignity at Benina airbase in Benghazi on the 29th of May 2021. Even though the LNA of warlord Khalifa Haftar was to merge with the forces of the Government of National Accord (GNA) as part of the newly-established Government of National Unity (GNU), the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR) passed a no-confidence motion against the unity government in September 2021. Khalifa Haftar subsequently announced his candidacy for the presidential election in December 2021 before it was postponed. The May parade was aimed at showing the LNA's (and thus Haftar's) strength to both internal actors and the outside world. In doing so, the LNA showed off a large number of equipment types inherited from the Gaddafi-era and received from Russia, the UAE, Jordan and Egypt since. [1]

Monday, 11 July 2022

Aegean Armour: Greece’s M1117 Guardians

Oryx AFV , armoured fighting vehicles 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

The Hellenic Army continues to face great difficulties in replacing its aging inventory of armoured fighting vehicles and other equipment types. Hit especially hard by the financial crisis of 2007-2008 and the government-debt crisis that followed, Greece had to cancel or postpone a number of acquisition projects. Although the Hellenic Armed Forces was spared severe budget cuts as a result of rising tensions with Türkiye, the lack of funds led to the curious situation where civilians had to pay for the fuel needed in order for Greece's annual independence parade to take place.

Tuesday, 14 June 2022

Leader Of The Pack: Lithuania’s Vilkas IFVs

Oryx Boxer , Exotic Armour 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

As much of Western Europe appears to have finally woken up to the necessity of concrete military power for security, the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania already realised the requirement to prepare themselves to deal with Russian aggression in the Baltic region since Russia's annexation of Crimea in early 2014. Correspondingly, each country has since drastically expanded the size and readiness of its armed forces. Whilst initially mostly purchasing small arms, ATGMs and MANPADS to equip active and reserve forces, further investments have meanwhile paved the way for the acquisition of air defence and anti-ship missile systems, long-range artillery and hundreds of AFVs.

Saturday, 11 June 2022

Ingenuity In Isolation: Transnistria’s Humvee Copy

Oryx 14th army , Exotic Armour 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), has churned out a number of highly interesting armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) designs over the past decade. Unable to replace its dated inventory of Soviet weaponry ever since proclaiming independence in the early 1990s, the country has instead sought to supplement its vehicle park with a number of homegrown vehicle designs. Many of these are based on already existing AFVs, which are then modified to suit an entirely new role. Arguably the best examples of this are the MT-LB SPAAG and the BTRG-127 'Bumblebee' APC, the latter of which originally started its career as the GMZ-3 minelayer vehicle. [1]

Tuesday, 15 February 2022

The Turkish Tiger: Indonesia’s Kaplan MT Tanks

Oryx Exotic Armour , FNSS Defence Systems 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

Indonesia continues to field large numbers of light tanks. The oldest of these, the AMX-13/75 and the PT-76, operated by the Army and Marine Corps respectively, were originally acquired in the 1960s. Despite having been upgraded throughout their career to help them retain at least some form of combat efficiency, both types now lag far behind in firepower, armour protection and fire-control systems and are scheduled for replacement. While the Indonesian Marine Corps intends to replace all of its PT-76s with BMP-3 IFVs, the Indonesian Army selected the Turkish Kaplan MT medium tank to replace its ageing AMX-13s. In Indonesia, the Kaplan is known as the Harimau (meaning Tiger).

Wednesday, 2 February 2022

An Emirati Armata – The Golden Unit HIFV

Oryx Armata , armour 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

The heavy infantry fighting vehicle (HIFV) concept has found little popularity with militaries around the world. Although a HIFV's heavy firepower and increased armour protection is of particular use during fighting in urban areas, the hefty pricetag of most HIFVs and their niche role have been enough to dissuade most militaries from ever acquiring them. Still, new HIFVs are designed to this day, with the Russian T-15 Armata, the Israeli Namer (HIFV) and the Chinese VT4 being some of the more recent examples. Of these, only the Namer has so far entered service.

HIFVs are based on tank chassis as a rule, with Ukraine even opting to lengthen a T-72 to allow for an infantry compartment to be installed between the engine and the turret. The resulting design, the BMT-72, could carry five dismounts and still be used as a tank. Other tank-based designs like the Chinese ZTZ59, the Jordanian Temsah and the Ukrainian Babylon lost their turret but were rearmed with autocannons and/or ATGMs. Each of these designs can also double as a fire-support vehicle, setting them apart from heavy armoured personnel carriers like the BMP-55.

Another country that has been looking at the HIFV concept with significant interest is the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In the mid-2000s, the UAE operated in excess of 600 BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) acquired from Russia during the 1990s. [1] These operated alongside a fleet of some 400 French Leclerc MBTs, yielding the UAE the most modern and capable Armoured Force in the entire region at that time. Even still the UAE sought to expand on its existing capabilities by introducing a new vehicle type to its arsenal: The HIFV.

Rather than purchasing an existing HIFV design from abroad, the UAE launched its own project for the conversion of redundant MBT hulls to HIFVs. At that time, the UAE still maintained a stock of some forty OF-40s MBTs it had purchased from Italy in the early-to-mid 1980s. [1] After the arrival of the Leclerc MBTs, the OF-40s were put into storage. With its fleet of Leclerc MBTs already surpassing its own needs after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, there no longer was a need to maintain the OF-40s as a strategic reserve, paving the way for their conversion to HIFVs.

Although the export-oriented OF-40 proved to be a commercial disappointment, its chassis was eventually re-used for the Palmaria SPG, which entered service with Libya in large numbers.

Now that a suitable platform had been found, the UAE awarded a 15.8 million USD contract to the Belgian Sabiex International company (now known as OIP Land Systems) to rebuild one OF-40 to a HIFV in 2005. [2] Sabiex already had experience in refurbishing and upgrading a wide range of armoured fighting vehicles from both Western and Eastern origin, many of which are still offered for sale today. The project to convert a MBT into an heavily armoured vehicle that could also carry infantry was arguably the company's most ambitious undertaking up until that point.

Some of the vehicles still offered for sale by OIP Land Systems/Sabiex. From left to right: Gepard SPAAGs, a M109A4BE SPG, a Leopard 1A5BE, a SK-105, an AMX-13, a M113 and an AIFV-B.

In 2005, a single OF-40 MBT was shipped to the factory of Sabiex in Belgium to be completely dismantled and slowly built up again, now as a HIFV. This process took until 2007. [2] Still without a turret (which was to be fitted to the vehicle when it returned to the UAE), the HIFV undertook its first series of trials in Belgium in the same year. It would take another three years before the development of the prototype was finished. The HIFV was then shipped back to the UAE to undergo trials in the Emirati desert.

In the UAE the HIFV hull was mated with the turret of a BMP-3 IFV, which boasts a 100mm 2A70 cannon, a 30mm 2A72 autocannon and a 7.62mm PKT machine gun. The 2A70 cannon can fire a range of shell types, including the 9M117 Bastion ATGM. However, these do not appear to have been acquired by the UAE. The BMP-3 turrets purchased by the UAE are fitted with the advanced Namut thermal gunner sight jointly developed by France and Belarus. The fitting of six smoke launchers to the front of the turret completes the design.

After having passed its desert trials in 2010, the prototype by Sabiex was then to serve as an example for the conversion of the rest of the OF-40s to HIFVs in the UAE. Meanwhile designated the Golden Unit, a maximum of around forty vehicles could be assembled from the OF-40s still in Emirati stocks. For reasons unknown, the work to convert any of these vehicles never commenced, and the ambitious project remained limited to just the prototype, which presumably survives somewhere in an Emirati military warehouse to this day. [2]

The Golden Unit in the UAE now fitted with the turret of a BMP-3.

In order to accommodate an infantry compartment, the hull of the OF-40 was reverted, with the engine now at the front of the hull, creating enough space in the back to carry four dismounts. The chassis was significantly reworked, although the original 830hp MB 838 CaM 500 engine was retained. [2] The engine was likely still sufficient to power the HIFV even with the weight of the newly-added armour and BMP-3 turret, altogether weighing some 45 tonnes. [2] The hull armour consists of all-welded steel and is claimed to achieve STANAG 4569 level 5. [2] A new inner armoured bulkhead provides the sides of the HIFV with spaced armor, which was also fitted to the front section. The resulting armour protection significantly surpasses that of the OF-40 MBT or BMP-3 IFV.

The prototype of the Golden Unit undergoing trials in Belgium. Note how far the driver is situated from the front of the vehicle as a result of the front-mounted engine.

The Golden Unit is manned by crew of three, consisting of the driver, and the gunner and commander who sit in the turret. The infantry compartment holds enough space for only four soldiers (compared to up to seven in the BMP-3), who embark and disembark the HIFV via the rear ramp or via an emergency hatch at the right-hand side of the vehicle. Video cameras are installed at the front and rear of the vehicle for increased vision for the driver, which would have poor situational awareness and difficulty steering if the camera setup and video feeds were to fail.

A rear shot of the Golden Unit clearly showing the periscopes for the passengers and the rear and front-mounted cameras.

The interior of the HIFV still appears spacious before the fitting of the BMP-3 turret.

The UAE was also presented with an opportunity to significantly increase the protection of its already existing fleet of IFVs after the unveiling of the Russian Kaktus explosive reactive armour (ERA) kit in the early 2000s. The Kaktus kit consists of blocks of reactive armour installed on the front and side of the hull and turret to provide additional protection against RPGs and ATGMs. [3] While the UAE is sometimes reported as a customer of the Kaktus armour kit for its BMP-3s, there is no evidence that suggests an Emirati acquisition of the kit actually took place.

Rather than purchasing the Kaktus armour kit, the UAE instead sought to increase the protection of its existing BMP-3s through the installation of lighter slat armour covering the entirety of the vehicle except for the front turret. These up-armoured BMP-3s were later deployed to southern Yemen during the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen in 2015. Superior tactics and training meant that the UAE Armoured Forces only suffered light losses during the campaign, possibly amounting to as little as two BMP-3s destroyed. [4]

An Emirati BMP-3 with slat armour fitted seen during a combat deployment in Yemen.

The impressive armour protection of the Golden Unit ultimately wasn't enough to convince the Emirati military to move ahead with the conversion of more vehicles. Whether this was due to a change in vision or for different reasons entirely is unknown, and the UAE might simply have lost interest in the project after five years of protracted development. Nonetheless, during IDEX-2019 Vice President, Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum inspected a model of the Chinese VT4 HIFV, perhaps indicating there is still some interest in the concept.

Vice President, Prime Minister and UAE Minister of Defence Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum inspects a model of the Chinese VT4 HIFV.

Rather than fielding tracked HIFVs, the UAE now looks to purchase significant numbers of Rabdan 8x8 wheeled IFVs, a variant of the Turkish Otokar Arma 8x8 designed to meet Emirati requirements. Perhaps unsurprisingly, these too will feature the turret of a BMP-3, resulting in the most heavily-armed wheeled IFV in the world. The Rabdan 8x8 can also be used as an APC, mortar carrier and ARV among a host of other roles, providing more operational flexibility than the Golden Unit could have ever hoped to achieve.

The Rabdan 8x8 IFV.

Special thanks to Tanks Encyclopedia. For more on the Sabiex HIFV be sure to check out their article here.

[1] SIPRI Trade Registers https://armstrade.sipri.org/armstrade/page/trade_register.php

[2] Sabiex HIFV, The ‘Golden Unit’ https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/modern-uae-belgium-sabiex-hifv-golden-unit/

[3] https://i.postimg.cc/7Ys1ktrF/4399.webp

[4] https://lostarmour.info/yemen/item.php?id=7564

Recommended Articles:

Inconvenient Arms: North Korean Weapons In The Middle East

The Mystery MRLs That Fuelled Both Sides Of The Libyan Conflict

Wednesday, 8 December 2021

Russia, Redux: Turkmenistan Acquires The Typhoon MRAP

Oryx Exotic Armour , KamAZ-63968 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

The future prospects of business with Turkmenistan must have looked promising for Russian arms manufacturers in the late 2000s, with a steady stream of orders for armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs), helicopters and naval ships pouring in. However, after initially mostly relying on Russia to modernise its armed forces, orders for more Russian armament from Turkmenistan quickly began to dry up. Instead, Turkmenistan diversified its arms acquisitions to include a myriad of other nations' arms suppliers, at the cost of arms manufacturers in Russia and Ukraine.

Thursday, 2 December 2021

Serbian Lazar 3 IFVs In Service With Turkmenistan

Oryx APC , Exotic Armour 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

Turkmenistan has accumulated a highly diverse arsenal of arms and equipment acquired from a plethora of countries worldwide. Intriguingly, many of those acquisitions appear to stem from an intention to increase ties with a particular country rather than actually fulfilling a genuine military requirement. This 'friendship through arms' policy comes at the cost of an increasingly complicated logistic system that by now has to source spare parts from nine countries for Turkmenistan's fleet of infantry mobility vehicles (IMVs) alone!

Sunday, 6 August 2023

Sunday, 2 April 2023

Wednesday, 4 January 2023

Tuesday, 3 January 2023

Monday, 26 December 2022

Friday, 23 December 2022

Monday, 14 November 2022

Tuesday, 1 November 2022

Tuesday, 18 October 2022

Monday, 10 October 2022

Thursday, 6 October 2022

Tuesday, 4 October 2022

Saturday, 27 August 2022

Monday, 11 July 2022

Tuesday, 14 June 2022

Saturday, 11 June 2022

Tuesday, 15 February 2022

Wednesday, 2 February 2022

Although the export-oriented OF-40 proved to be a commercial disappointment, its chassis was eventually re-used for the Palmaria SPG, which entered service with Libya in large numbers.

Some of the vehicles still offered for sale by OIP Land Systems/Sabiex. From left to right: Gepard SPAAGs, a M109A4BE SPG, a Leopard 1A5BE, a SK-105, an AMX-13, a M113 and an AIFV-B.

The Golden Unit in the UAE now fitted with the turret of a BMP-3.

The prototype of the Golden Unit undergoing trials in Belgium. Note how far the driver is situated from the front of the vehicle as a result of the front-mounted engine.

A rear shot of the Golden Unit clearly showing the periscopes for the passengers and the rear and front-mounted cameras.

The interior of the HIFV still appears spacious before the fitting of the BMP-3 turret.

An Emirati BMP-3 with slat armour fitted seen during a combat deployment in Yemen.

Vice President, Prime Minister and UAE Minister of Defence Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum inspects a model of the Chinese VT4 HIFV.

The Rabdan 8x8 IFV.

Wednesday, 8 December 2021

Thursday, 2 December 2021

Search

Popular Articles

Countries and Factions

Article Series

Archive