Mexico

[Mohoender]

The Mexican army has never been that powerful and when it attacked the USA in 1998, that move took everyone by surprise as it was not expected that the Mexican Army could even attempt such a move.

This move was facilitated by the presence of the Division Cuba and rag tag soviet air units. When the Cubans favored the leaving of Soviets ground forces, they did the same with Soviet pilots and all of them ended up in Mexico with a number of viable tanks (T-72 and T-80) and some combat aircrafts that were organized into descent air squadrons composed by a few Mig-29, Mig-21 and Su-25.

However, this would have still remained insufficient if Mexico had not slightly expended its armed forces capability prior to the more global conflict.
- While ERC-90 is the backbone of its armored force, they are not the only "tanks" available. In the early 1990's, the old fleet of M3 Stuart had been sent to Brazil where they were modified by Bernardini to X1A2 standards.
- The somewhat important fleet of AMX-VCI acquired at this time is suplemented with a few hundreds Panhard VCR and VBL bought when the BDX contract failed. Moroever, older or rarer vehicule types such as V150 Commando, M5 Half Track and M8 Greyhound remain in front line service.
- The army still rides on older M151 but several thousands of the newer Hummer where acquired prior to the conflict and are now turned on the US Army (That, of course, depends on Hummer acquisition date by the Mexican army but I have not been able to find it. If anyone knows).
- The artillery remains very weak (with no more than 100 medium and light howitzers) except for a large number of light mortars but it was boosted, nonetheless, by the acquisition of hundreds of brandt mortars (120mm) and a few Milan from France.
- The Air force was equally boosted through the acquisition of a dozen more Northrop F5 from an undisclosed source and by the modernization of the T33 fleet refited through the "Boeing Skyfox" program. While still very small, the Skyfox seriously boosted Mexican ground attack capability. With the addition of the Soviet aircrafts, Mexico had over 60 Jet aircrafts when its forces entered the USA: 8 Mig-29, 11 Mig-21, 20 Northrop F5, 8 Su-25 and 22 Skyfox. This would normally have been no match for the USAF but with the general choas that had followed the nuclear exchange, it had become a serious threat.
- The navy, despite acquiring the two Bronstein-class frigates and a few additional Serviola type OPV remains an outdated force organized around two FRAM modified destroyers, almost 20 Auk-class Seagoing Minesweeper and a large number of light boats.

Finally, when the war started in Europe, the Rural Defense Force was mobilized and when the Army was sent to the offensive, it largely took over internal security missions.

An idea.

[HorseSoldier]

Early 90s the Mexicans were going to buy 300 M60 tanks from the US to refurbish their armor fleet but the deal never went through for some reason. Maybe T2K timeline those are M48s instead, but I agree the Mexican military needs some enhanced combat power and logistics capability to do power projection credibly.

[Mohoender]

I didn't know, Interesting. It's hard to find any serious source on the Mexican Army.

[Webstral]

Turboswede did some excellent work on his Mexican Army Sourcebook. Sales of M60s to Mexico in the early 1990's is an interesting prospect. One could imagine that in after the rise of the new Soviet regime in 1989, a deal like this one might take on enough additional impetus to get completed.

I'm going a slightly different way for Thunder Empire. Following the Soviet renaissance, sales of Western arms pick up a notch. The release of large quantities of hardware from the Soviet stockpile to Third World clients causes the neighbors of the Soviet clients to develop a strong interest in keeping pace. For a variety of reasons, Mexico increases her domestic arms production by striking deals to manufacture modest quantities of French equipment under license. This equipment is aimed at the Latin American market, where the Mexicans expect to have a leg up against European and American manufacturers (including Spain, which manufactured its own AMX-30 fleet under license).

The Mexican entry into the market comes at a unique moment. There is a significant demand in the Western-aligned and non-aligned developing world for an MBT that is easy to maintain and relatively inexpensive. At the same time, many wealthier nations are retiring their fleets of AMX-30, Leopard 1, M47, and M48 in favor of more advanced tanks (now that the Cold War clearly will continue). France is heavily engaged in replacing her existing fleet of MBT with the new LeClerc. Although France can handle some non-domestic demand for upgrading AMX-30, there is an excess of demand. Thus, Mexico enters the licensed production market at a time when AMX-30 are available for rebuilding and a market for rebuilt AMX-30 is growing.

Though annoyed that Mexican-built French arms might displace some American arms in Latin America, the US makes the most of the situation. As Latin American customers begin outlining requirements for new and rebuilt AMX-30, it becomes clear that most of the customers are oriented towards keeping purchase and maintenance costs down. The US strikes a deal with Mexico to provide a large part of the electronics suite of each new tank. Costs are kept down through the use of electronics that are not state-of-the-art but which are durable, reliable, and relatively inexpensive. By mid-1992, the first Mexican refurbished AMX-30 are rolling out of the shop.

Additionally, Mexico opts to build several other important systems under license, most importantly the VAB and VBL. Later, capacity for upgrading ERC 90 F1 to the F4 standard is seen as desirable for nations with small budgets and the need to kill MBT like the T-55.

When China floods the West with orders for equipment of all kinds in late 1995, Mexico finds herself in a position to take advantage of the opportunity, if on a modest scale. AMX-30, VAB, and VBL leave Mexican ports. In addition, the Mexican Army uses the opportunity to shed some of its older systems while setting aside a portion of current production for domestic use. Although some of the systems in use in Mexico were still useful, greater standardization is seen as a cost-savings measure. Consequently, as many DN-IV, DN-V, M8 and other older vehicles as could be replaced are sold. Most of the systems go to China, where formations in low-priority areas and the state security apparatus needed AFV of any sort to replace fighting vehicles being sent to the front. Some systems go to Central America, where anxiety about Soviet clients and leftist revolutionaries combined with scanty budgets to make WW2-era equipment from the Mexican inventory attractive.

As a consequence, by the time of the nuclear exchanges the Mexican Army fields a modest number of AMX-30 backed by a respectable fleet of VAB and ERC 90, both in several variations. Many of the older systems have been sold or scrapped, creating a force that is much more standardized and modernized than had been the case in 1989.

[rcaf_777]

The compsite of Soviet Divison was decussed on here and it more or less a lot of advisors with a Motorized Rifle Reigment, I personally wonder what kinda of shape this unit would given the state of Soviet Army in it war with China

[Mohoender]

Web

Thanks for reminding me of mexican army sourcebook and thank you to Paul for having it in PDF. I had never been able to put my hand on it. Now it's done.