Rebellions and insurgencies give rise to a wide array of
innovative weapons. The lack of manufacturing capability often leads to some
impressive improvised systems. The famed
Technical that was developed in the 1987 Chad-Libyan war is still one of the
most popular of the improvised weapons systems. In Syria, Libya and many other
more contemporary wars the Technical, which is a small truck of some make with
a weapon mounted on the bed, exhibits a wide range of weapons adapted to
it. More advanced Technicals have a
heavy machine gun on a pintle mount with gun shield and a seat for the gunner.
Highly maneuverable and fairly easy to construct, Technicals are the basis for
heavy weapons transport. In Syria the idea has been refined and upgraded a few
times.
Video: BMP-1 73mm
Cannon mounted on a large flatbed delivery truck
Video: Syrian Rebel Flatbed Mortar Truck
Video: Another view of the above system
The mounting systems are often pretty ingenious as well,
this picture of a series of Rebel propaganda photos showing the training of
women has one manning a heavy machine gun, probably a Soviet 14.7mm KPV, with
what looks like bicycle shock absorbers to cut on the recoil.
The bigger flatbeds can carry correspondingly heavier
ordnance, of course. I wonder what the
recoil does to the frame and suspension of both the smaller pick-ups and the
larger flatbeds? The recoil absorbing
mechanisms are seen in quite a few videos and pictures leading me to believe
that the effects of firing these weapons erode the vehicle after a while. In
addition they would provide a more stable firing platform on a vehicle that
was, in all likelihood, never designed to serve as weapons carrier.
The Syrians have also made quite an industry of homemade
mortars
Video: 165mm mortar
Video: Another homemade system, probably 60-80mm in size.
Mortars are one of the best weapons for an insurgency.
Cheap, easy to use and deadly effective in most terrain, mortars have been the
infantryman’s friend since the American Civil War. While making them is not
great technical achievement, making them safe and effective is. And it looks
like the Syrians have done just that.
Libya during their
fighting demonstrated much of the same ingenuity and improvisation (and it
makes one wonder how many fighters in the Libyan conflict have migrated to
Syria). This photo shows pretty well the Libyan rebels in all their glory,
multiple Technicals with heavy machine guns and cannon plus what looks like a
homemade rocket launcher on the vehicle closest to the camera.
Here’s one of my favorite adaptations. The looting of
Government arsenals produced a large number of weapon systems adapted for
particular uses, like helicopter and strike aircraft mounted rocket pods. But,
as the old saying goes, when you have lemons go ahead and made lemonade. I
think that the rocket pod mounted on the Technical was a pretty fierce weapon,
like a mini version of the Katyusha Rocket launcher made famous during the
Second World War
The west concentrates on hi-technology systems, cutting edge
weapons that are largely geared towards a conventional conflict with an enemy
of roughly equal capability. Despite the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq as
well as other interventions such as Libya and Mali the most expensive weapons
system deviate little from this path. The American F-35 JSF program and the new
variant of the Nimitz class super
carriers, the Gerald R. Ford, both
represent the cutting edge of the western defense industry. These systems
represent a substantial investment for America and its allies.
Can we make weapons cheaper? The rise of the maker culture
in America (and elsewhere, especially Europe and Japan) could provide a source
of inexpensive weapons systems, something that would be the western equivalent
of the cobbled together Technicals in the third world. Besides saving money on defense budgets what
I see as the power of the maker could be harnessed to tackle what could be
serious issues that came from Iraq/Afghanistan and future conflicts in Africa,
the Middle East and Asia.
Could western militaries and defense industries take
advantage of the maker culture? Could America develop a weapons system designed
for small conflicts that would be effective and cheap? A crowd sourced defense
project? The Technical and its ilk were built in haste for wars that are most
often based on religion, tribal or ethnic beliefs. Taking whatever was
available and easy to repair for a war that would necessarily limit the ability
to acquire foreign weapons and equipment, the makers of the third world need to
be innovative if they want to achieve their goals. Research and development is
a luxury that western states can afford; the third world makes do but often in spectacular, innovative fashion. What can the west learn?
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