Showing posts with label tank. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tank. Show all posts

Sunday, 2 April 2023

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A Far Cry: Yara’s HS-100 Tanks

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.
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Monday, 26 December 2022

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Know Thy Enemy: Türkiye’s T-55A MBT

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]
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Friday, 30 September 2022

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The Oryx Handbook Of Cuban Fighting Vehicles

BTR , BTR-100 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
Abbrevations:
 
- CBAF (Carro Blindado de Apoyo de Fuego) = Armoured Fire-Support Vehicle
 
- CBE (Carro Blindado de Exploración) = Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicle
 
- CBI (Carro Blindado de Infantería) = Armoured Infantry Vehicle
 
- C-AP (Cañón Autopropulsado) = Self-Propelled Artillery
 
- C-AP-AT (Cañon Autopropulsado Anti-Tanque) = Self-Propelled Anti-Tank Cannon
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Monday, 11 April 2022

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Answering The Call: Heavy Weaponry Supplied To Ukraine

Bayraktar , Bushmaster 0 Comments

 
The following list attempts to keep track of heavy military equipment delivered or pledged to Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The entries below are sorted by armament category (with a flag denoting the country of delivery), and due to the confidential nature of some arms deliveries they can serve only as a lower bound to the total volume of weaponry shipped to Ukraine. Private donations and crowdfunders, ATGMs, MANPADS, missiles used by SAM systems, mortars, small arms and commercial UAVs are not included in this list. This list is constantly updated as further military support is declared or uncovered. For a list of arms supplies to Russia click here.
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Wednesday, 2 February 2022

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An Emirati Armata – The Golden Unit HIFV

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.

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Wednesday, 1 September 2021

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The Tigray Defence Forces - Documenting Its Heavy Weaponry

Ethiopia , Ethiopian Army 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
A war that broke out between the Ethiopian government and its northern Tigray region has thrown the country into turmoil. Armed conflict has been raging since November 2020, killing thousands and displacing millions. The escalation came after months of tensions between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) political party. For nearly three decades, the TPLF was at the centre of power in Ethiopia after defeating the communist-socialist state that existed in Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991. Tigrayan officials were able to dominate the government despite only accounting for some five per cent of the Ethiopian population. After a wave of anti-government protests from 2014 to 2016, a new government led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018. Abiy pressed reforms that sought to curb the power of the TPLF, much to the dismay of the Tigrayans. In response, Tigray, held its own regional elections and tensions increased to the point of open hostilities. The political crisis erupted into war when TPLF forces attacked Ethiopian Army bases in Tigray in November 2020.
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Saturday, 7 August 2021

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Esoteric Armour: Ukrainian T-72UMG Tanks In Turkmenistan

AFVs , armoured fighting vehicles 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
Like many Central Asian countries, Turkmenistan operates an exotic fleet of armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) it inherited from the Soviet Union or purchased from other nations in the past decades. The latter acquisitions manifested themselves in the sourcing of modern AFVs like the T-90S, BMP-3 and BTR-80A from Russia, and large numbers of infantry mobility vehicles (IMVs) from countries such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the UAE and China. Other sources of AFVs include the United States, Austria and Belarus, together culminating in a highly diverse arsenal of military vehicles.
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Thursday, 8 April 2021

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Fighting The Tide: The Islamic State’s Desperate Attempts to Combat Coalition Airpower

AAM , air defence 0 Comments
 
By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
Starting in June 2014, Coalition airstrikes conducted on positions, vehicles and high-ranking members of the Islamic State have taken a heavy toll on the group. These airstrikes combined with increased bombardements conducted by the Russian Air Force (RuAF) ultimately proved to be decisive in determining the outcome of many of the offensives conducted by and against the Islamic State. The Battle for Kobanî, where Coalition airpower played a decisive role in the defence of the city, first made painfully clear the vulnerability of Islamic State forces to aircraft armed with precision-guided munitions.
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Saturday, 17 October 2020

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Out Now! Our Book: North Korea’s Armed Forces, On The Path Of Songun

DPRK , Korean People's Air Force 0 Comments

By Joost Oliemans and Stijn Mitzer
 
The DPRK. Shrouded in mysticism and secrecy, the nation represents an absolute unicum for the military analyst. No other country in the world manages to attract so much scrutiny to its controversial antics, yet divulge so little of material importance about its inner workings. This might be at the heart of why this country specifically has gripped our attention for so many years, and drawn us to write this book about its largely mysterious armed forces. The subject is broad and an aversion towards narrowing down the scope of this project means it has run into numerous delays along the way whilst the word count steadily kept rising. Unpleasant as this may have been in the meantime, this has enabled us to write a more complete treatise of both the Korean People Army's history and its current military convolutions than we could once have hoped for. The common thread found within these pages on all matters related to the North Korean military is proudly extolled on the cover: "On the Path of Songun" – it is a subtitle fitting to the subject whichever way you regard it. To the North Koreans, "Songun" is the military first doctrine introduced by Kim Jong Un's father, Kim Jong Il; a supposed masterplan aimed at preserving the nation's sovereignty. Incidently, "On the Path of Songun" is also the title of one of the DPRK's many military documentaries – a highly welcome source of information for analysts like us. Viewed from another angle however, the phrase embodies the confrontational direction that has come to characterise North Korean politics in recent decades. Plastered across headlines through ever escalating tensions and an inexhaustable string of missile launches and atomic bomb tests, the question this book aims to answer about North Korea's armed forces is implicit to this subtitle: Where did the path of Songun lead them, and where will it next?
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Sunday, 20 September 2015

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Handbook Of Pre-War Yemeni Fighting Vehicles

AFV , BTR 0 Comments

 
By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 

This list only includes vehicles and equipment in service with the Yemeni Army before the Houthi takeover of Yemen in 2014 and 2015. Vehicles and equipment acquired and produced during the ongoing conflict are not included in this list. The goal of this list is to comprehensively catalogue the pre-war inventory of the Yemeni Army, list the country's esoteric AFV designs as well as clarify what military equipment is currently available to Yemeni parties on the battlefield. Civilian trucks towing military trailers are not included in the list.

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Friday, 30 January 2015

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The 4th Armoured Division’s Armour Upgrades: Products Of A Four Year War

4th armoured division , Adra 0 Comments

 
By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans


Following local experiments with spaced and slat armour on T-72AVs and BMP-2s, the 4th Armoured Division initiated a small-scale upgrade programme for its armour in the summer of 2014. After upgrading several of its T-72M1s and bulldozers with additional armour, the 4th Armoured Division is now also operating at least one ZSU-23-4 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) upgraded in the same fashion.

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Monday, 10 November 2014

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Vehicles And Equipment Captured By The Islamic State Inside Syria Until November 2014

equipment , Handbooks 0 Comments


By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

 

This list only includes captured vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment captured by the Islamic State may be higher than recorded here.

Although some of the tanks and artillery fielded by the Islamic State in recent offensives such as Kobanê were captured from Brigade 93 and Regiment 121 respectively, a great deal of effort has been put into avoiding double listings.

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