Technical (chariot)

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Technical based on a ZIL-131 in Afghanistan
Technical based on a Toyota T100 and a Soviet KPWT-MG

As Technical refers to a converted-combat unarmored car, in which a simple weapon like a machine gun , a recoilless gun , an anti-aircraft or anti-tank gun mounted.

They are mostly used in the context of asymmetrical warfare . Mostly it is a simply modified off-road vehicle with all-wheel drive and a loading area, called a pickup , on which the respective armament is placed. The modifications are mostly limited to repainting in camouflage colors, attaching options for receiving ammunition and in some cases also removing the roof of the driver's cab. The crew consists of a driver, weapon operator and an unspecified number of shooters, which depends on the space available on the vehicle.

If it is a fully armored car, one speaks of an armored car .

etymology

Technical in Mogadishu, Somalia

The term technical is an abbreviation of the English technical assistance grant (German: "technical equipment grant "). It was popularized as part of the UNOSOM operations in the Somali civil war at the beginning of the 1990s. Since the United Nations on-site aid organizations forbade the employment of external guards, these organizations granted their employees technical assistance grants , which they used to pay for cars and drivers on site. In the course of the UN mandate, the armament of these cars increased.

history

Restored Tachanka
Members of the SAS after a patrol ( North Africa , 1943)

Russian civil war

The history of these vehicles goes back to the beginnings of automobilization. The forerunners of the Technicals were horse-drawn carriages equipped with machine guns, so-called Tatschankas , which were used in the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1920.

Second World War

During World War II , armed all-terrain vehicles such as the Chevrolet WB 30 Patrol Truck and the Willys MB Jeep were used by British forces such as the Long Range Desert Group and the Special Air Service (SAS).

Western Sahara War

Converted civilian all-terrain vehicles were first used on a larger scale by the Polisario in their war, which began in 1975, for the independence of Western Sahara against Mauritania and Morocco .

Libyan-Chadian border war

The operative influence of Technicals on the final turn of the Libyan-Chadian border war in 1987 earned this conflict the name “Toyota War” due to the massive use of armed Toyota Hilux .

Uses

Technicals are mostly used in one of three ways:

  1. The technical quickly drives through the battle area and shoots the whole area with support fire . The vehicle then goes back to safe cover ( hit-and-run tactic ).
  2. The technical tries to reach the battle site quickly and then fires with targeted shots.
  3. As a troop transport . The technical transports a detachment of troops to the battle site, and then supports the detachment with its weapons equipment.

Web links

Commons : Technicals  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Supporting documents and comments

  1. ↑ Luisa Seeling: On the bed. Toyota Hilux rebel vehicle. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . August 23, 2014, accessed on August 30, 2014 (IS fighters and Taliban, Somali pirates and Libyan militiamen - all drive Toyota Hilux. Why insurgents all over the world love to use Japanese off-road vehicles.).
  2. ↑ a b Gutschker, Thomas; Boris Schmidt, Boris; Scheen, Thomas: The little man's cavalry. Toyota's "pick-ups". In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. April 11, 2011, accessed April 11, 2011.