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Old 01-01-2009, 06:31 PM
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chico20854 chico20854 is offline
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Well, the thread on Gun Trucks touches a bit on the myriad options for armored gun-trucks. There may also be extensive use of unarmored "technicals".

The Israeli's were leaders in upgrading captured Soviet vehicles - replacing engines with more reliable/fuel efficient Western ones, putting Western fire-control and vision systems in, and replacing weapons to NATO standard, such as swapping in a NATO-standard 105mm gun for the 100mm mounted in a T-55.

Another long tradition for modifying vehicles is to take obsolete tank chassis and convert them to heavy APCs by removing the turret, or converting them to SP AT guns (WWII-era Marder) or artillery (WWII-era Wespe, post-war D-30s on T-34 chassis used by Egypt). I guess you could also mount a heavy ATGM or large mortar (4.2" or 120mm) in a de-turreted tank chassis.

Finally, various manufacturers proposed different turrets for a variety of hulls, with the M-113 series probably being the most prolific. Off the top of my head, the Australian Army mounted Saladin armored car turrets, the Danish Army has a different turret and there are probably 50 more variants, including the fantasy M-115A1 variant in the v1 US Army Vehicle Guide, mounting the LAV-25 turret.

In 2000, vehicle modifications could take any number of forms, based on the technical skill, desperation and material status of any particular group. The only reason I could see for pulling a tank turret off by that point in the war is if its visibly damaged and unable to be repaired - even if out of ammo it can still be used to intimidate!
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