Technical (vehicle)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

First Libyan Civil War

A technical, officially a non-standard tactical vehicle (NSTV) in

self-propelled gun
), etc.

The

private security, non-governmental organizations hired local gunmen to protect their personnel, using money defined as "technical assistance grants". Eventually the term broadened to include any vehicle carrying armed men.[3] However, an alternative account is given by Michael Maren, who says the term was first used in Somalia in the 1980s, after engineers from Soviet arms manufacturer Tekniko mounted weapons on vehicles for the Somali National Movement during the Somaliland War of Independence.[1] Technicals have also been referred to as battlewagons and gunwagons.[4]

Among irregular militaries, often centered on the perceived strength and charisma of male warlords, the prestige of technicals is strong. According to one article, "The Technical is the most significant symbol of power in southern Somalia. It is a small truck with large tripod machine guns mounted on the back. A warlord's power is measured by how many of these vehicles he has."[5] Technicals are not commonly used by well-funded militaries that are able to procure purpose-built combat vehicles, because the soft-skinned civilian vehicles that technicals are based on do not offer much armor protection to crew and passengers.

Technicals fill the niche of traditional

armored fighting vehicles, and they are mostly helpless against any air support from a proper military. [citation needed
]

In Russia and Ukraine, technicals are often referred to as

First World War and Russian Civil War
.

History

Prototypes and early usage

"L" Detachment SAS in armed jeeps during the North African campaign of World War II

Light improvised fighting vehicles date back to the first use of automobiles, and to the horse-drawn tachankas mounting machine guns in eastern Europe and Russia. At the Bombardment of Papeete during World War I, the French armed several Ford trucks with 37 mm guns to bolster their defense of the city.[6] During the Spanish Civil War, field guns were fixed to trucks to act as improvised self-propelled guns, while improvised armored cars were constructed by attaching steel plates to trucks.[7]

During World War II, various British and Commonwealth units, including the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG), the No. 1 Demolition Squadron or 'PPA' (Popski's Private Army), and the Special Air Service (SAS) were noted for their exploits in the deserts of Egypt, Libya and Chad using unarmored motor vehicles, often fitted with machine guns. Examples of LRDG vehicles include the Chevrolet WB 30 cwt Patrol Truck[8] and the Willys MB Jeep.[9]

Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center

The SAS' use of heavily armed Land Rovers continued post war with their use of Series 1 Land Rovers and later Series 11A 1968 Land Rovers in the

Dhofar Rebellion. The SAS painted their Land Rovers pink as it was found to provide excellent camouflage in the desert and they were nicknamed 'Pink Panthers' or Pinkies. The SAS also used a more modern Land Rover Desert Patrol Vehicle (DPV) during the Gulf War.[10]

Western Sahara

Tactics for employing technicals were pioneered by the

ghazis) of the pre-colonial period. Polisario later gained access to heavier equipment, but four-wheel drive vehicles remain a staple of their arsenal.[citation needed
]

The Moroccan army quickly changed their strategy and created mounted units using technicals[11] to challenge Polisario speed and hit and run strategies in the large desert, where the Moroccan units proved their efficiency.

Chadian–Libyan conflict

Main article: Toyota War

In 1987,

Aozou Strip. The vehicles were instrumental in the victory at the Battle of Fada, and were driven over 150 km (93 mi) into Libya to raid military bases. It was discovered that these light vehicles could ride through anti-tank minefields without detonating the mines when driven at speeds over 100 km/h. The vehicles had become so famous that, in 1984, Time dubbed early stages of the conflict the "Great Toyota War".[12]

The Toyota War was unusual in that the force equipped with improvised vehicles prevailed over the force equipped with purpose-built fighting vehicles. MILAN anti-tank guided missiles provided by France were key to the Chadian success, while the Libyan forces were poorly deployed and organized.

The Troubles in Northern Ireland

Main article: Improvised tactical vehicles of the Provisional IRA

Throughout the conflict in Northern Ireland (1960s-1998), the Provisional IRA fitted vehicles, especially vans and trucks, with automatic weapons, heavy machine guns,[13] and also improvised mortars.[14][15] Sometimes the vehicles were armored with welded plates and sandbags.[16][17] The IRA employed tractors and trailers to transport and fire improvised mortars, and heavy equipment to tear down fences and barbed wire and break into fortified security bases.[18][17][19] Improvised flamethrowers were usually modified manure spreaders pulled to their targets by tractor.[20][21]

Somali Civil War

UNOSOM II
mission

Technicals played an important role in the 1990s

armored fighting vehicles
. However, technicals were very common.

Somali faction leader Mohamed Farrah Aidid used 30 technicals along with a force of 600 militia to capture Baidoa in September 1995.[22] It was reported that after his death in 1996, his body was carried to his funeral on a Toyota pickup.[23]

Proving their susceptibility to heavy weapons and their value as a military prize, the

Second Battle of Mogadishu in 2006.[24] That September, an impressive array of 130 technicals was used to take Kismayo from the forces of the Juba Valley Alliance.[25]

On November 13, 2006, then President of

Abdi Qeybdiid's reconstituted militia.[26]

However, forced into conventional battles in the

T-55 tanks, Mil Mi-24 helicopter gunships and fighter-bombers employed by Ethiopia.[citation needed
]

War in Afghanistan

An Afghan National Police Ford technical with a U.S. Army Humvee during a patrol in Zabul Province, Afghanistan.

In the

U.S. special operations forces units such as the Green Berets were known to use technicals for patrol both because of the rugged terrain and the nature of their clandestine operations.[27][citation needed] The Taliban also use technicals in the bulk of their mobile fighting force.[28][29]

Iraq War

Iraqi National Guard troops with a PK machine gun mounted on a fourth generation Ford Courier

Technicals were used by

Iraq Spring Fighting of 2004.[citation needed
]

Many military utility vehicles have been modified to serve as gun trucks to protect Coalition convoys. The Humvee allows for weapon mounts by design, so it is not considered a technical.

The Coalition also supplied technicals to the

Private military contractors also use technicals and the United States military used modified Toyota Hiluxes, Land Cruisers, and other trucks as well.[36]

Darfur conflict

Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebel troops in defense of their areas of operations.[38] Light vehicles such as technicals are often thought to be more mobile than armored vehicles, but on one occasion an African peace-keeper driving a Grizzly AVGP whose guns had jammed, succeeded in catching up with, ramming and rolling over a fleeing Sudanese technical.[39]

Lebanon

Introduced by the

Lebanese Army and the Internal Security Forces
(ISF). Opposition forces have reportedly used technicals in the fighting for the
May 2008 clashes in Lebanon.[40]

Libyan Civil War

A ZU-23-2 technical used by the forces of the National Transitional Council in October 2011

During the

First Libyan Civil War, both regime loyalist forces as well as the anti-Gaddafi forces
used technicals extensively. The type of warfare that had been carried out in the conflict—wherein highly mobile groups of soldiers and rebels continued to move to and from on the desert terrain, retreating at a time and then suddenly attacking to regain control of small towns and villages in the Eastern rebel held parts of Libya—had led to the technical becoming a vehicle of choice for both sides.

Technicals had also been widely used by the rebels whilst setting up checkpoints. It also formed a vast percentage of the rebel inventory which was limited to light weapons, light body armor and very few tanks. Some medium

Ural-375D trucks and mounted on the backs of pickups, with the technicals able to fire anywhere from one to six rockets.[44][45][46]

Syrian Civil War

An SDF technical in a village captured from ISIL near Raqqa, Syria
Toyota non-standard Tactical Vehicles (NSTVs) used by U.S. troops in Syria

In the

Military of ISIL
extensively used technicals in Iraq and Syria.

ISIS targets.[47]

War in Donbas

During the 2014

war in Donbas, both sides were using home-made military vehicles.[48] OSCE monitors recorded 15 Russian armored utility vehicles (UAZ-23632-148 Esaul) in a training area near non-government-controlled Oleksandrivska in April 2021.[49][50]

Yemeni Civil War

In the

Houthis
and Hadi-aligned militias use technicals.

Russo-Ukrainian War

Russian invasion of Ukraine
.

Technicals were seen being used by Spetsnaz in Gomel, Belarus on February 24, 2022.[51] Ukrainian forces reportedly used rocket launchers recovered from downed helicopters, mounted on technicals.[52]

Composition

Technicals consist of weapons mounted on a civilian vehicle, such as a

rocket pods salvaged from downed attack helicopters like the S-5 rocket
.

Due to being soft-skinned vehicles, optional add-on hardware include

vehicle armor
such as made of welded steel plates as defense against small arms fire to increase survival chances.

See also

References

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  3. ^ "Guerrilla Trucks: Why rebels and insurgent groups the world over love the Toyota Hilux pickup as much as their AK-47s". Newsweek. 2010-10-14. Retrieved 2010-10-25.
  4. ^ "Somalia transitional government soldiers keep watch from a battlewagon over the parliament at Baidoa in November 2006, AFP Photo". News.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2011-07-06.
  5. ^ "United States Psyop in Somalia, Herbert A. Friedman". Psywarrior.com. Retrieved 2011-07-06.
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    .
  7. ^ Beevor, Antony. The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939. Hachette UK, 2012.
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  12. ^ "The Great Toyota War". Time. 1984-04-23. Archived from the original on December 27, 2007. Retrieved 2011-07-06.
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  23. ^ "Somalis bury Aydiid Archived 2006-11-18 at the Wayback Machine", Reuters, August 2, 1996 (copy hosted by netnomad.com).
  24. ^ ""Somali Islamists win city battle", BBC News Online, 11 July 2006". BBC News. 2006-07-11. Retrieved 2011-07-06.
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  34. ^ John Pike (2003-03-20). "Operation Iraqi Freedom day 19". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2011-03-29.
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  48. ^ "Самодельные бронеавтомобили Донбасса" [The homemade armored vehicles of Donbass]. Gazeta.Ru (in Russian). 2014-11-12. Archived from the original on 2015-01-09. Retrieved 2014-11-14.
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  51. ^ Gomel, Belarus - Russian SOF (02/24), archived from the original on May 3, 2022, retrieved 2022-02-25
  52. Ministry of Defense of Ukraine [@DefenceU] (June 22, 2022). "So, now rus weapons are really in a good hands. 🇺🇦 warriors have installed a rocket launcher from a shot down 🇷🇺 🚁 Ka-52 on their car and use it against the occupiers. P.S. Thank you to 🇺🇦 volunteers for the Mitsubishi L200. P.P.S. But we are still waiting for HIMARS and M270!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on August 7, 2022 – via Twitter
    .

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