"The Amazing (And Bizarre) Homemade Kurdish Armor..." Topic

… Fighting ISIS In Syria.

"Irregular armed forces have to rely on their ingenuity to arm themselves. And while rifles and mortars can be bought on the black market, getting hold of a tank or two can be a bit tricky. But you can always make a DIY version with your own hands.

At least that's what fighters of the Kurdish militias in northern Syria do. Called People's Protection Units, or YPG, they have been dedicated to protecting Kurds from whatever the three-year-long war in the country may throw at them. Lately it's been the Islamic State, the big bad terrorist group that proved to be worthy of being bombed by America itself…"

Full article here
link

Looks like a "Tiznao" (visit Interwar forum).

Amicalement
Armand

The camouflage painters must have watched "Laugh In" on a black-and-white TV.

Nice paint job !!!!! This also annoys me … with all the "mothballed" US/NATO AFVs, you'd think you'd be able to give them directly to the Kurds. As it appears the regular Iraqi Army will only abandon them as they run away. Being a former Mech Cdr, S4(Log) and BMO(Maint.), I know the supply and maintenance considerations. So along with the SF, Spec ops, CIA types there should be New Equipment Training Teams, Maint. & Supply troops, etc. … To give the Kurds the firepower they need. Even buy back some of the AFVs they have left, and issue them to the Kurds. Since the Iraqis have US AFVs, there must be a maint.& supply system and chain already in place in some form …

read the article – yellow tank? white tank?

Steam/diesel punk tank. cool!

At least the author of this piece acknowledges that they are useful.

Unlike the mocking tone of the piece linked to on Kurdish improvised armor from a month or so ago.

And actually these are probably much more effective than the first tanks of WWI. For one thing no riveted armor to spall and inflict casualties inside. More reliable engines and drive trains in the base vehicles. Better steering and gear shifting arrangements. I would also expect that the Kurds have better internal ventilation.

Aside from the lack of a light gun, these would probably have been viewed with envy by a tanker from WWI.

Instead of giving surplus arms and MRAPs to our small town police, maybe we should give them to people actually fighting Islamic terrorists.

My local cops just got at least 1 MRAP. I saw it still in desert tan colors driving near the Police Station recently … Kind'a cool !

Waiting for a Quar soldier to stick his head out of that thing.

It seems reminscent of early French tanks from World War I.

As for giving the Kurdish forces tanks, while it may seem reasonable, the Turkish military will no doubt be quite opposed to it. Some of the Kurds in southeastern Turkey have been fighting to establish an independent state for decades, and the Turks will likely take the long view that giving tanks to any Kurdish forces is likely to result in those tanks eventually being turned on Turkish units.

Beyond that the Turkish Army are still primarily using older US tanks, such as modernized M60s, so even providing older models to the Kurdish forces would put them close to par with the Turkish forces.

Necessity is the mother of invention, but man, what ugly babies! Do you think the proud Kurds will force foreigners to look adoringly at the photos while they prattle on about how marvelous their inventions are? Or maybe they could use the photos for interrogation of prisoners (If they take any).
Rod Robertson.

Improvise, adapt, overcome …