(10)_(cropped).jpg)
Atechnical, known as anon-standard tactical vehicle (NSTV) inUnited States military parlance, is a lightimprovised fighting vehicle which has been modified to mountsmall arms and light weapons (SALW) and heavy weaponry.
The vehicles most commonly used to make technicals are open-backed civilianpickup trucks and vehicles withfour-wheel drive capabilities. Armaments used includemachine guns,automatic grenade launchers,anti-aircraftautocannons,rotary cannons,anti-tank weapons,anti-tank guns,anti-tank guided missiles,mortars,multiple rocket launchers,recoilless rifles, and other support weaponry. Technicals perform a similar function togun trucks andself-propelled guns, but are helpless against more advanced weaponry and superiorair power.
Theneologismtechnical describing such a vehicle is believed to have originated inSomalia during theSomali Civil War in the early 1990s.[1][2] Barred from bringing inprivate security,non-governmental organizations hired local gunmen to protect their personnel, using money defined as "technical assistance grants". The term broadened to include any vehicle carrying armed men.[3]
An alternative account is given byMichael Maren, who says the term was first used in Somalia in the 1980s, after engineers from Soviet arms manufacturerTekniko mounted weapons on vehicles for theSomali National Movement during theSomaliland War of Independence.[1] Technicals have also been referred to asbattlewagons andgunwagons.[4]
In Russia and Ukraine, technicals are often referred to astachanka, a reference to horse-drawn machine gun platforms from theFirst World War andRussian Civil War.
Amongirregular militaries, often centered on the perceived strength and charisma of malewarlords, the prestige of technicals is strong. According to one article, "The Technical is the most significant symbol of power in southernSomalia. 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-builtcombat 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 traditionallight cavalry. Generally costing much less than purpose-built combat vehicles, the major asset of technicals is speed and mobility, as well as their ability to strike from unexpected directions with automatic fire and light troop deployment. The reliability of vehicles such as theToyota Hilux is useful for forces that lack the repair-related infrastructure of a conventional military on land. In direct engagements they are no match for heavier vehicles, such astanks or otherarmored fighting vehicles, and they are mostly helpless against anyair support from a proper military.[citation needed]
Light improvised fighting vehicles date back to the first use of automobiles, and to the horse-drawntachankas mountingmachine guns in eastern Europe and Russia. At theBombardment of Papeete in 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, and improvised armored cars were constructed by attaching steel plates to trucks.[7]
InWorld War II, various British and Commonwealth units, including theLong Range Desert Group (LRDG), the No. 1 Demolition Squadron or 'PPA' (Popski's Private Army), and theSpecial 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.[8] Examples of LRDG vehicles include the Chevrolet WB 30 cwt Patrol Truck[9] and theWillys MB Jeep.[10]
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 theDhofar 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 used a more modern Land Rover Desert Patrol Vehicle (DPV) during theGulf War.[11]
Tactics for employing technicals were pioneered by theSahrawi People's Liberation Army, the armed wing of thePolisario Front, fighting for independence againstMauritania (1975–79) andMorocco (1975–present) from headquarters inTindouf, Algeria. Algeria provided arms andLand Rovers toSahrawiguerrillas, who successfully used them in long-range desert raids against the less agile conventional armies of their opponents, recallingSahrawi tribal raids (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[12] to challenge Polisario speed and hit and run strategies in the large desert, where the Moroccan units proved their efficiency.
.jpg)
In 1987,Chadian troops equipped with technicals drove the heavily mechanizedLibyan army from theAozou Strip. The vehicles were instrumental in the victory at theBattle of Fada, and were driven over 150 km (93 mi) into Libya toraid 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 became so famous that, in 1984,Time dubbed early stages of the conflict the "Great Toyota War".[13]
The Toyota War was unusual in that the force equipped with improvised vehicles prevailed over the force equipped with purpose-built fighting vehicles.MILANanti-tank guided missiles provided byFrance were key to the Chadian success, while the Libyan forces were poorly deployed and organized.
Throughout theconflict in Northern Ireland (1960s-1998), theProvisional IRA fitted vehicles, especially vans and trucks, with automatic weapons, heavy machine guns,[14] andimprovised mortars.[15][16] Sometimes the vehicles were armored with welded plates and sandbags.[17][18] The IRA employed tractors and trailers to transport and fire improvised mortars, andheavy equipment to tear down fences and barbed wire and break into fortified security bases.[19][18][20] Improvisedflamethrowers were usually modifiedmanure spreaders pulled to their targets by tractor.[21][22]
Technicals played an important role in the 1990sSomali Civil War and theWar in Somalia (2006–2009). Even prior to the collapse of theSomali Democratic Republic, camouflaged Toyota pickup trucks with mounted M2 Browning machine guns appeared in Somali military parades in the 1980s. After the fall of theSiad Barre regime and the collapse of theSomali National Army (SNA), it was rare for any Somali force to fieldarmored fighting vehicles. However, technicals were very common.
In September 1995, Somali faction leaderMohamed Farrah Aidid used 30 technicals and a force of 600 militia to captureBaidoa.[23] It was reported that after his death in 1996, his body was carried to his funeral on aToyota pickup.[24]
In 2006, Proving their susceptibility to heavy weapons and their value as a military prize, theIslamic Courts Union (ICU) captured 30 "battlewagons" during the defeat of warlordAbdi Qeybdid's militia in theSecond Battle of Mogadishu.[25] That September, an impressive array of 130 technicals was used to takeKismayo from the forces of theJuba Valley Alliance.[26]
In November 2006, then President ofPuntland, GeneralAdde Musa, personally led fifty technicals toGalkacyo to confront the Islamists. They were used a month later against the army of the Islamic Courts Union at theBattle of Bandiradley alongsideAbdi Qeybdiid's reconstituted militia.[27]
Forced into conventional battles in theWar in Somalia (2006–2009), the unarmored technicals of the ICU proved no match for theT-55 tanks,Mil Mi-24 helicopter gunships and fighter-bombers employed byEthiopia.[citation needed]
In theWar in Afghanistan,U.S. special operations forces units such as theGreen Berets were known to use technicals for patrol, because of the rugged terrain and the nature of theirclandestine operations.[28][citation needed] TheTaliban also use technicals in the bulk of their mobile fighting force.[29][30]
Technicals were used byIraqi military forces in the2003 invasion of Iraq.[31] TheIraqi Republican Guard andFedayeen emulated tactics of theSomali National Alliance with limited success,[32][33] but were outmatched byCoalition armor and aviation.[34][35] In the aftermath of the invasion, technicals were used byIraqi insurgents for transporting personnel and quick raids against theIraqi police forces. The insurgent use of technicals increased after theIraq Spring Fighting of 2004.[citation needed]
Many military utility vehicles were modified to serve asgun trucks to protectCoalition convoys. TheHumvee allows for weapon mounts by design, so it is not considered a technical.
The Coalition supplied technicals to theIraqi police.[36]Private military contractors used technicals and theUnited States military used modifiedToyota Hiluxes,Land Cruisers, and other trucks as well.[37]
Janjaweed militias use technicals on theirraids against civilian villages inDarfur,Sudan,[38] as do theSudan Liberation Army (SLA) andJustice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebel troops in defense of their areas of operations.[39] Light vehicles such as technicals are often thought to be more mobile than armored vehicles, but on one occasion an African peace-keeper driving aGrizzlyAVGP whose guns had jammed, succeeded in catching up with, ramming and rolling over a fleeing Sudanese technical.[40]
Introduced by thePalestine Liberation Organization (PLO) guerrilla groups, technicals were extensively employed by all factions involved in theLebanese Civil War between 1975 and 1990, including the ChristianLebanese Front and theLebanese National Movement (LNM) irregular militias, theLebanese Army and theInternal Security Forces (ISF).Opposition forces used technicals in the fighting for theChouf District during theMay 2008 clashes in Lebanon.[41]
During theFirst Libyan Civil War, both regime loyalist forces as well as theanti-Gaddafi forces used technicals extensively. The type of warfare 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—led to the technical becoming a vehicle of choice for both sides.
Technicals were widely used by the rebels while setting up checkpoints. They formed a vast percentage of the rebel inventory, which was limited to light weapons, light body armor and very few tanks. Some mediumflatbed trucks carried the Soviet-madeZPU andZU-23-2 towed anti-aircraft twin or quad barreled guns, andrecoilless rifles andS-5 rocket helicopter rocket launcher pods.[42]
Some rebels improvised with captured heavy weaponry, likeBMP-1 turrets[43] and helicopter rocket pods, and lower-tech methods such as using doorbells to ignite rocket-launched ammunition.[44] Rebel technicals frequently employedBM-21 Grad rockets. Rocket tubes were salvaged from damaged regimeUral-375D trucks and mounted on the backs of pickups, with the technicals able to fire anywhere from one to six rockets.[45][46][47]
.png)
In theSyrian Civil War, technicals are extensively used as improvised fighting vehicles, especially by formeropposition forces such asJaysh al-Thuwar, who largely lack conventional fighting vehicles.Syrian government forces used technicals, but on a smaller scale. The kind of weapons mounted on technicals varies widely, includingmachine guns,recoilless rifles,anti-aircraftautocannons (commonlyZPU andZU-23-2) and evenBMP-1turrets. TheMilitary of ISIL extensively used technicals in Iraq and Syria.
Peshmerga forces have used technicals to surround and attackISIS targets.[48]
During the 2014war in Donbas, both sides were using home-made military vehicles.[49] OSCE monitors recorded 15 Russian armored utility vehicles (UAZ-23632-148 Esaul) in a training area near non-government-controlled Oleksandrivska in April 2021.[50][51]
Technicals were seen being used bySpetsnaz in Gomel, Belarus in February 2022.[52] Ukrainian forces used rocket launchers recovered from downed helicopters, mounted on technicals.[53]
In theYemeni Civil War,Houthis and Hadi/Alimi-aligned militias use technicals.
Technicals consist of weapons mounted on a civilian vehicle, such as afour-wheel drivepickup truck. Many pickups have been used as technicals includingFord Ranger andMitsubishi Triton, but the most favoured are theToyota Hilux andToyota Land Cruiser. They are typically fitted withheavy machine guns (especially theDShK,Type 77 orM2 Browning), anti-aircraft artillery (usually theZPU orZU-23-2),recoilless rifles (usually theSPG-9 orM40 recoilless rifle), anti-tank missiles launchers,multiple rocket launchers such as theType 63 or theM-63 Plamen and in rare occasionsrocket pods salvaged from downedattack helicopters like theS-5 rocket.
Due to being soft-skinned vehicles, optional add-on hardware includeballistic glass,turretgun shields andimprovisedvehicle armor made of welded steel plates, as defence against small arms fire to increase survival chances.
Some technicals have their originaltyres changed tooff-road tyres,run-flat tyres or specialised tyres withcentral tyre inflation system. The modified tyres improve technicals' performance on different terrains. Run-flat tyres, or central tyre inflation system equipped tyres give the technicals opportunity to quickly get out of dangerous situations, even when tyres are damaged.
