Syrian weapons. Arsenal of the Syrian war. Kunstkamera armaments. The acquisition of the Syrian army

And if the bandits failed to capture or buy something, you have to be smart - handicraft workshops provide the insurgents with artillery and even rocket weapons.
Zvezda tells about the most unusual weapons of the rebel groups.
М16А4
The mangled rifle with the inscription on the receiver "Property of US government" (that is, "property of the United States") was certainly the most curious specimen of the captured weapon display at the Army-2017 exhibition. How did the modern American rifle get to the militants? Most likely, the M16 was captured by ISIS militants (an organization banned in Russia) in the warehouses of the Iraqi army, to which they were officially supplied.
R-40
If a primitive savage were lucky enough to find a gun, he would certainly be delighted with such a good, durable club. The photo shows a primitive rocket launcher. Only now the rocket installed on it is far from primitive - it is the Soviet R-40, designed to arm the MiG-25P interceptor fighter. A hypersonic projectile made of titanium, with a thermal imager guidance head, resistant to electronic countermeasures, is used by ISIS in an installation, in comparison with which the ancient Katyusha BM-13 is the crown of engineering.

RBG 40mm/6M11

Another sample that raises many questions is the Serbian revolver grenade launcher. He recently appeared in service with opposition groups and ISIS militants. The weapon itself is not too remarkable, especially since it is a copy of the South African Milkor MGL 40x46mm. However, there is no information about export sales of the RBG 40mm / 6M11, the grenade launcher is generally not very common in the world. This indirectly points to shadow channels for the supply of weapons to Syria from Southeast Europe.

fortress gun

Lack of modern precision weapons forces the militants to construct real monsters. The photo shows something like a fortress gun of the 17th-18th century, that is, something in between a musket and a cannon. Of course, in a more modern guise: this stationary gun is probably made under the cartridge of a heavy Soviet machine gun DShK. In addition, a cheap optical sight, most likely taken from an air rifle, draws attention.

A more serious instance: an Austrian precision rifle, which is in service with NATO countries. It was demonstrated among other trophies at the Army-2017 exhibition. Developed in the early 70s, the SSG-69 rifle remains a serious argument in the hands of a trained shooter today - for a series of 10 shots, the dispersion diameter at 800 meters is no more than 40 cm. That is, at this distance an experienced sniper can still hit a full-length figure. At the same time, at 300 meters, the spread will not exceed 9 cm. Perhaps this high-quality weapon was first provided to the Syrian opposition, from where it ended up in ISIS.

LPG mortars

In war, all means are good, especially since they are initially flammable. Domestic gas cylinders have long been loved by ISIS terrorists as shells for homemade large-caliber mortars (from 218 to 305 mm). However, it cannot be said that progress stands still: in Lately stabilizers were welded to the cylinders. It is unlikely that this seriously improved the accuracy of throwing household containers, on the other hand, shooting at residential areas does not require scrupulous calculation.

Chemical weapon
Perhaps the most frightening specimen captured Russian special forces in Syria, this is an installation for the synthesis of toxic substances in the field. It is a concrete mixer where reagents are poured - in themselves they are relatively harmless, but when mixed they form organophosphorus poisonous substances (OS) such as tabun or sarin. Note that this kind of binary method for obtaining OF for a long time was used by the United States - say, artillery shells were equipped with precursors that mixed during the shot, forming
nerve agent V-gas.

The civil war in Syria, which has been going on with varying degrees of success in the country for 6 years, has put this once prosperous country on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. Once Syria, whose army is now struggling to regain control over previously lost territories, was considered one of the most militarily powerful states in the Middle East. Gone are the days when Syria had great political weight in the Arab world, when not a single political and armed conflict was complete without the participation of Syrian troops. To date, the situation has changed dramatically. The country is torn apart. The fire of civil confrontation covered 70% of the country's territory. From the once mighty military force, there are pitiful remnants. However, even in this state, the current army, which has always been considered the stronghold of the regime of President Assad, has become almost the only tool for maintaining the position of the current government.

Fighting on several fronts at once, the Syrian armed forces managed not only to prevent the final collapse of the state, but also continue to fight for the restoration of the country's sovereignty. And this despite the fact that the size of the armed forces has been greatly reduced due to mass desertion and military losses. A serious blow to the combat capability of the Syrian army was a significant reduction in the sources of funding for military spending items. The army, which does not have a stable and reliable logistics support, in which modern weapons can be counted on the fingers, and there is an acute shortage of qualified personnel, is forced to continue the armed struggle.

What was before, before the war

The Syrian Arab Republic has had powerful armed forces since its inception. This was facilitated by the political situation that developed in the Middle East in the second half of the 20th century. The Syrian leadership, unlike the governments of other Middle Eastern countries, initially pursued a policy oriented towards the Soviet Union. Thanks to friendship with the USSR, the country was constantly in the orbit of the Soviet foreign policy receiving serious military and economic assistance in return.

The Syrian army, which began to receive large quantities of Soviet military equipment, quickly gained strength, eventually becoming one of the most powerful in the region. The combat readiness and condition of the troops were affected not only by the number of army units and subunits, but also by the high technical training and moral and psychological qualities of the personnel. Most of the Syrian officers were trained in educational institutions Soviet Union. Military-diplomatic missions from the USSR constantly worked in Syria, whose employees trained commanders and personnel of the Syrian armed forces. Work was carried out in all directions, both in the field of acquiring skills in handling new models and weapons, and in terms of tactical training. The level of military-technical training of the Syrian army has always remained quite high, even despite a number of heavy defeats suffered by the Syrian troops during the armed conflicts that broke out in the Middle East.

It should be noted that the Syrian military had great political weight in the country. The army constantly took part in the military-political crises that arise in this explosive region of the planet. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, the Syrian armed forces were marked by participation in the following armed conflicts:

• 1948 - the war for the independence of the Israeli state;
• 1967 - Six Day Coalition War Arab countries against Israel;
• 1973 - "The Doomsday War";
• 1982 - Civil war in Lebanon;
• 1990-91 — First Gulf War.

Evaluating this list, we can conclude that the Syrian armed forces traditionally have vast combat experience. The army in Syria is not a parade-demonstrative structure. The armed forces for the Syrian Arab Republic have always been the main element in the organization of the strategic regional foreign policy. This is also confirmed by the structure of the armed forces, traditionally consisting of three types:

• ground troops;
• air Force;
• naval forces.

The first two types of troops for the Syrian army play a key role in the defense strategy. The last, naval component, due to the limited naval coastline, is an auxiliary branch of the armed forces. The Syrian army in terms of its strength at the zenith of its power ranked 16th in the world. In the army units, in military aviation, in the air defense forces and in the navy, there were up to 354 thousand people. The country had a fairly large mobilization resource, which, according to various sources, was estimated at 3.5-4 million people.

To ensure the solution of tactical tasks on its own territory, Syria had a gendarmerie corps and units of the people's militia (reservists).

The structure of the armed forces of the Syrian Arab Republic

Despite the insignificant area of ​​the state, the entire territory of the country was divided into six military districts, oriented along geographical factor. The main strike force of the Syrian armed forces is the ground forces, numbering 215 thousand people in peacetime. Together with the reserve, the army units represented a half-million army. Part ground forces traditionally includes tank, infantry, motorized and airborne troops in the first line of defense.

In addition to combat units, the ground forces include border troops, communications units and chemical protection, army units electronic warfare and engineering and technical formations. The central body of command of the ground forces is General base the Syrian army, which in turn is subordinate to the Ministry of Defense of the country and the Supreme Commander. The highest operational-tactical formation of the ground forces is the army corps, divisional and brigade composition.

The main task that was set before the ground forces was to counter the military expansion of Israel on the southern borders of the country, to protect the eastern and northern borders of the state.

At the peak of its military power, the Syrian army had 12 divisions, of which 4 were armored (tank division of the Republican Guard) and one airborne. In addition to motorized and tank divisions, the ground forces included:

• four infantry brigades;
• border brigade;
• two missile and artillery brigades;
• two anti-tank teams;
• up to 11 separate regiments.

In wartime conditions, the army could deploy an additional 31 infantry division, about 4-5 tank brigades or divisions.

The artillery of the ground forces had two full-fledged brigades, to which 3 more artillery regiments could be added at any time.

The ground forces were equipped with up to 4,700 tanks. The basis of the tank fleet was made up of Soviet-made vehicles, T-55M, T-62M and T-72M tanks. Of this number, almost a quarter of the tanks are in long-term storage under conservation conditions. The motorized units included 2350 BMP-1 and BMP-2, more than one and a half thousand BTR-152, BTR-50 and BTR-60.

The main force of the artillery of the Syrian ground units was represented by Soviet-style artillery systems. Self-propelled artillery- these are 152-mm howitzers "Acacia" and 122-mm self-propelled units"Carnation". In addition, the motorized and infantry units had up to 1600 towed artillery pieces calibers 100-180 mm. Rocket artillery was equipped with 480 missile systems salvo fire BM-21 "Grad" and "Type-63" of Syrian production.

Heavy infantry weapons, which are in service with motorized and infantry units, were mainly represented by mortars of 82-120 mm caliber, anti-tank portable systems "Malyutka", "Fagot", "Milan" and "Kornet-E".

Battalion, regimental and brigade air defense systems were equipped with portable air defense systems "Igla", "Strela-1" and "Strela-2", towed anti-aircraft guns ZU-23-2, KS-19 and S-60, self-propelled ZU-23- 4 "Shilka".

Despite the rather large number of the most diverse military equipment, the technical fleet of the Syrian ground forces cannot be called modern. For its time, during the period of active confrontation with Israel, during the time of the Arab-Israeli troops, Soviet tanks and artillery could successfully compete with the best examples Western military equipment. Currently, there is a rapid obsolescence of the material and technical base of tank units and artillery. Affects low level maintenance of mechanized units.

Military aviation

The Air Force of the Syrian Arab Republic was once considered one of the best in the Arab world. The Syrian Air Force includes directly military aviation and parts of the country's air defense. In service with the Syrian army aviation there were up to 500 combat aircraft of various types and up to 100 combat helicopters. Military aviation had a fairly significant number of transport aircraft, helicopters and training machines.

The basis of the aircraft and helicopter fleet were Soviet-made machines. The strike force of aviation was the Su-22 and Su-24 fighter-bombers. Fighter aircraft mainly consisted of Soviet MiG-21 and MiG-23 aircraft. A little later, in the early 90s, the Syrian military aviation was replenished with more modern machines, MiG-29 fighters. The helicopter fleet of the Syrian army aviation is the Mi-8 and Mi-17 transport vehicles. There are several regiments of Mi-25 attack helicopters at the disposal of the Syrian troops. In military-technical terms, Syrian aviation is at a transitional stage, when the goals and objectives set do not correspond to technical capabilities. aviation technology. Old Soviet machines in most cases have exhausted their technological resource, new machines are just beginning to be supplied to equip aviation units, and in limited quantities.

System air defense the country is built on the sectoral defense of the Northern and Southern air defense zones, where the main burden is borne by ground facilities air defense. The emphasis in the organization of defense measures is on Southern zone, which directly borders on the territory of Lebanon and Israel. Structurally, the entire air defense is represented by two divisions and 25 separate missile brigades. The Syrian military has 900 launchers at its disposal, among which it is worth highlighting Soviet models: the S-200 Kvadrat, the S-125, S-75 and Osa launchers.

IN modern conditions there is no need to talk about the high quality of Syria's air defense. They are armed with obsolete missile systems. At one time, the modernization carried out slightly increased combat characteristics anti-aircraft missile systems. In view of this situation, the country's top military leadership is betting on increasing the role of aviation in securing the air borders of the Syrian Arab Republic.

Syrian navy

There is no need to talk much about the Syrian Naval Forces. A small number of ships, represented mainly by boats and ships of the old Soviet construction, a weak material and technical base do not allow the Syrian fleet to play important role in the Eastern Mediterranean. The main task of the Syrian fleet is to protect its own coastline from a possible invasion in conditions of close cooperation with the ground and aviation units of the Syrian army.

home naval base Syrian Navy - port of Latakia. Detachments of military boats and ships are also based on Tartus and Mina el-Beid. The main fighting force of the Syrian fleet is two Project 159e frigates, which the country received back in 1975, and 10 Soviet-built missile boats.

In total, the Syrian Navy has 10 ships, 18 boats and up to 30 ships of other types and classes. The strength of the fleet is 4 thousand people. Coastal defense units are represented by Soviet-made Redut and Rubezh missile systems. They are complemented by artillery units armed with long-range 100 and 130 mm. tools.

The acquisition of the Syrian army

The principle of recruitment, military field and rear structures of the Syrian army units, the governing bodies repeated the structure Soviet army. To maintain a constant staffing of army units in the Syrian Republic, universal military service has been introduced. The entire male population of the country aged 19-40 years old, who does not have restrictions for health reasons, is called up for military service. The call was carried out twice a year - in spring and autumn. The approximate number of conscripts who annually replenished the ranks of the armed forces is 120-130 thousand people. Such a system made it possible for a long time to maintain the strength of the Syrian armed forces on high level. Service in the army lasted 2.5 years.

In Syria, as in other Arab states, since 1953, there was a system of paying off military service. Those segments of the population who could financially solve these issues sought to be freed from military service. This practice was especially vividly observed during the period of the Arab-Israeli conflicts, when armed clashes and fighting were intense.

It should be noted that for the most part, the Syrian army is a worker-peasant army. Wealthy Syrians were not eager to go to war for the idea of ​​the domination of the Arab world. This fact explains the extremely low level of technical training of soldiers and sergeants, which is often explained by the failures of the Syrian army at the front, significant losses of Syrian troops in manpower and equipment. In a sense, the situation with the recruitment of army units by sergeants was saved by the introduction of a contract system in the army. Served in active army Syrians could remain in long-term service by signing a contract for a period of 5 years or more. Those who retired to the reserve were transferred to the passive reserve, which was a mobilization resource for the wartime army.

The sergeants are the main driving force of any modern army, staffed by re-enlisted and conscripts who graduated from higher educational establishments. The preparation and education of the officer corps in the country was carried out by military schools, as well as two military academies. The senior command staff was trained at the Higher Military Academy, Damascus, and at the military-technical academy in Aleppo. For 30 years in the USSR from the Syrian Arab Republic, within the framework of existing agreements on military-technical cooperation, Syrian officers were trained and retrained.

Military-political strategy of Syria

For a long time, the defense strategy of the Syrian Arab Republic was based on solidarity with the united Arab front and was aimed at containing the expansion of Israel. However, the agreements reached between Egypt and Israel, the split in the unity in the Arab world, became the reason for the revision of the defensive strategy of the Syrian state.

For many years, armaments were flowing into the country from the USSR to Syria. Soviet tanks, artillery and missile systems, armored personnel carriers and cars constituted the main fleet of military equipment of the Syrian armed forces. IN certain moment in terms of military-technical condition, the Syrian troops, especially tank units and military aviation, were not inferior to either Israel or others neighboring countries. Syrian tanks were stationed 200 km from Tel Aviv, occupying positions on the Golan Heights. The Syrian Air Force had sufficient technical resources to counter Israeli Air Force in a potential conflict zone. The defense strategy of the Syrian state was formed in a similar way. With the collapse of the Soviet bloc and the collapse of the Soviet Union, Syria lost the opportunity to form its military and economic potential.

Since the beginning of the 90s, the SAR leadership began to focus on the principle of reasonable defensive sufficiency, to which the army played a key role as a deterrent. The transition to such a defense strategy does not mean that the foreign policy conditions in the region have changed dramatically. Israel was still seen as the main adversary. The Syrian military command looked cautiously towards Turkey and Iraq. In Iraq, after the military defeat, Saddam Hussein's regime retained its influence. Türkiye continued to build up its military potential, seeking to take the place of a regional leader.

In the military-technical competition with Israel and Turkey, the Syrian Republic was clearly losing. The lack of serious support and assistance from abroad immediately affected military technical condition Syrian army.

The current situation in the Syrian army

Today, the Syrian army is only a small part of the former power that the Syrian armed forces had in the 20th century. The current leadership of the country is trying to prevent a decrease in the combat capability of regular troops in the context of the ongoing military civil conflict.

By stopping the mass desertion that swept the army with the beginning of the civil confrontation, the command managed to mobilize sections of the population loyal to the Assad regime. Thus, it was possible to preserve the backbone of the army, giving it the opportunity to gradually restore its combat capability. Today, when several groups are fighting in Syria at once, Assad's army continues to be the backbone of the ruling regime. Syrian troops rely on military-technical assistance Russian Federation which is trying to keep President Assad as its last ally in the Middle East.

There is a slow re-equipment of army units with new types of weapons, the combat and morale of the army has significantly increased in comparison with that observed at the initial stage of the armed conflict. The latest reports from the fronts indicate that the Syrian army is gradually reviving, pushing rebel units in important areas. A considerable merit of the Syrian troops in delivering painful blows to the positions of the terrorists of the Islamic State group, which is opposed by the combined armed forces of the United States and Great Britain, Turkey and Russia.

The militants of the Islamic State, until recently, actively pursued an occupation policy to seize large territories Iraq and Syria. One of the secrets of success was the arming of terrorists.

Light weapons.

The human rights organization Amnesty International published a report according to which the militants of the "Islamic State" have a huge amount of weapons. It has been flowing uncontrollably to the Middle East for decades, mostly from the United States and its allies. According to human rights activists international organization Amnesty International's weapons, even supplied to "moderate" groups, can easily change ownership and end up in the hands of extremists. Terrorists use more than 100 types of weapons originating in about 25 countries.

Most of the modern weapons and ammunition (as a result of large-scale US deliveries), including armored vehicles of various classes, were seized by militants from the Iraqi army, which was retreating from Mosul, where military depots were located. "The variety of weaponry the group uses demonstrates how reckless arms dealing is leading to large-scale brutality," researcher Patrick Wilken was quoted as saying in the report.

Consider the report of the Conflict Armament Research (CAR) organization.

According to the organization, during the conflict in Iraq and Syria, bullets and cartridge cases produced in the United States were repeatedly found on the battlefield. More specifically, among the examined 1,700 weapon shells from cartridges used by jihadists, more than 20% were American-made. An interesting fact is the discovery of cartridge cases made in Iran, China, the USSR and a number of other countries of the former communist camp, manufactured since 1945. The main part of this ammunition was collected in Iraq and the northern part of Syria (Gatash, Khair).

Also, experts found a number of special finds. The first of these is the M-79 Osa hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher manufactured in Yugoslavia. It can fire 90mm rockets.

M79 "Wasp"

Experts say that it was these grenade launchers that Saudi Arabia supplied to the oppositionists of the Free Syrian Army in 2013. Thus, in Once again there is a connection between the ruling Saudi dynasty and the militants of the Islamic State (officially condemned by the government Saudi Arabia). The next sample is an assault automatic rifle manufactured by Colt Defense and FN Manufacturing, which is in service with the United States Army. We are talking about the Colt M16A4 rifle (one of the latest modifications). Another type of American weaponry captured from jihadists is the XM15 E2S semi-automatic rifle - essentially the same M16, but so to speak, its “civilian version” manufactured by Bushmaster. According to researchers, both rifles were seized by Islamic State terrorists in military depots of the Iraqi army.

It should be noted that one of the main and massive view The militants' weapon is a 7.62 mm Kalashnikov assault rifle. Specifically, samples of 1960, 1964 and 1970 were seized.

Speaking of high-precision weapons, it is worth mentioning the Croatian Elmech EM992 sniper rifle. It was created on the basis of the German magazine carbine developed in 1935 Mauser 98k, which was still in service in parts of the Third Reich. Another sniper rifle found by militants was a Chinese Type 79 7.62mm caliber. This copy is an exact copy of the SVD sniper rifle, which was produced in the USSR.

Based on the data obtained, the following main sources of weapons for ISIS can be identified:

• syrian army warehouses,
• iraq army depots,
• weapons taken in battle
• acquired in the process of active foreign trade.

Heavy armored vehicles, artillery.

Speaking about the presence of armored vehicles and artillery systems in ISIS militants, it is worth mentioning the words of Iraqi Prime Minister Al-Abadi about the capture during the battles near Mosul in 2015 of 2,300 armored off-road vehicles with heavy small arms HUMVEE made in the USA.

The Pentagon, in turn, provided disappointing data on the presence, until recently, of more than a hundred American main battle tanks Abrams M1A1 in militants. Although supporters of the "conspiracy theory" claim that there was only a veiled transfer of technology to the so-called. "moderate opposition" to counter the "Assad regime" in Syria.

According to various sources the army of the "caliphate" at the peak of its power had 140 Abrams tanks of the M1A1 modification. Almost all of them were captured during the ambush of the Iraqi military in Anbar province. This generation of tanks has been produced since 1984 and is equipped with a 120-mm smoothbore gun, forty rounds of ammunition, reinforced frontal armor and an integrated system for protecting the crew from weapons. mass destruction with the possibility of air conditioning. The cost of such a tank is about $4.3 million per unit.

As a result of the large-scale retreat of the Iraqi Army, the city of Ramadi with a population of 850 thousand people and hundreds of pieces of heavy equipment, including artillery, passed into the hands of the terrorists. According to preliminary estimates - 52 M198 Howitzer artillery towed howitzers worth $0.5 million per piece, manufactured in the United States. Development systems of the 1970s, produced in the amount of about 1700 units, are still in service with the armies of the United States, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Bahrain, Honduras, Greece, Lebanon, India, Pakistan, Tunisia, Ecuador, Thailand.

Do not forget that in addition to American military equipment, ISIS was armed with a large number of those produced by the Soviet Union, namely: T-55 - medium tank of the sixties and seventies of the last century, which in fact served as the progenitor of the main battle tanks, the T-62 is also a Soviet medium tank, a continuation and modification of the T-55 vehicles, and light armored vehicles of the BMP and BRDM. The most modern model in this series was the Russian T-90 tank, captured from government troops more than six months ago. The machine went to the militants fully combat-ready, was resold several times and eventually “surfaced” in the battles in the province of Hama, however, its appearance will not play a special turning point, due to the presence of modern anti-tank weapons in the CAA.

Also, a number of sources indicate that the militants have BM-21 multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) and operational-tactical missile systems (OTRK) of the Iraqi army's SCAD, built on the basis of Soviet ballistic missiles R-17. However, an extremely difficult technique to master, requiring qualified specialists and a number of other factors invisible to the layman, led to the fact that not a single SCAD missile took off.

Light armored vehicles. Motorized infantry.

The tactics of warfare in the conditions of Iraq and Syria require the presence of highly mobile units, which have become combat units based pickups. Today, armed pickups can be found wherever fighting takes place: in South American countries, where guerrillas are at war with the government, drug dealers with the law, and police with gangs - there are special forces. law enforcement use pickups for their own purposes. In Iraq, a machine gun mounted on a police car is the norm, while the larger the caliber, the better. In Afghanistan, combat pickups are called "technical" and they are used not only by terrorists, but by most of the special forces of the NATO contingent. Exactly the same situation is now developing in the territories of Syria and Iraq, where pickup trucks with installed heavy machine guns used by all parties to the conflict, including the Special Operations Forces of the Russian Federation.

Among the many models of pickups, the most popular among the militants today was the car Toyota Hilux. The US military compares this pickup truck in terms of reliability with a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

The main armament of such vehicles on the side of the IG was a large-caliber DShKM machine gun(or its Chinese counterpart "Type 54"). It is a modernized machine gun Degtyarev and Shpagin. Although given type weapons was adopted by the Red Army back in 1938, and today it is a formidable force due to the high efficiency of firing at armored targets and the rate of fire.

The second most popular installation on pickup trucks is the 14.5 mm Vladimirov heavy machine gun (KPVT), which poses a serious threat to light armored vehicles and aviation. Often, machine guns are simply removed from damaged armored vehicles, handles are welded to them, and a sight is installed. In addition, a significant part of the "technical" is equipped with launchers of unguided rockets. Basically, helicopter blocks installed on home-made machines are used in this role. But there are also absolutely handicraft samples, where there are no sights and missile stabilization, which makes such weapons ineffective.

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It is worth noting that there are also pickup trucks equipped with really formidable artillery weapons - 107-mm jet system salvo fire "Type 63", made in China and quadruple launcher Egyptian-made 122mm SACR missiles. However, firing from them often poses a threat to the terrorists themselves: a car carelessly left on the rise threatens to tip over and shoot itself, and a car may ignite or detonate ammunition in the back of a car from a rocket jet. As a means of direct fire support, ISIS terrorists use American 106-mm M40 recoilless rifles.

However, faced with the realities of combat in the city, the Teknikals began to be heavily armored. They additionally began to install armor plates in the front of the car, home-made shields for the machine gunner in the back. For these purposes, hatches from infantry fighting vehicles were often used.

The logic of choosing military pickups is understandable and is explained by the presence of a number of advantages:

- capacity: a ton of cargo or up to 20 fighters with weapons, which is not available to a regular jeep.

- in the event of a sudden shelling, the vehicle can be easily abandoned;

- speed of movement and sudden strike,

- possibility of installation powerful weapons directly into the body, thus compensating for the lack of armored vehicles and air and artillery support.

Aviation

Caliphate fighters in the first year of the war in Syria and Iraq captured a number of American UH60 Black Hawk helicopters, MiG-21 and MiG-23 fighters of Soviet production. However, the complete air supremacy of the aviation of Russia and NATO countries, the establishment of Khmeimim and Tartus bases using anti-aircraft missile systems () and Pantsir-S1 did not allow these "trophies" to rise into the sky. Most of them were destroyed by government forces while still on the ground.

At the same time, militants actively use unmanned aerial vehicles. aircrafts, based on commercial models of quadcopters and hexacopters. Tuning them with video cameras high definition, reinforced batteries and mortar shells, hanging them on UAVs and dropping them over the positions of regular troops in Iraq and Syria.

air defense

IS fighters often use heavy machine guns and portable anti-aircraft missile systems(MANPADS). On the destroyed government bases, the terrorists were able to capture a small number of American complexes"Stinger". ISIS also has Russian MANPADS"Arrow", "Needle" and their foreign "replicas". With the help of these systems, they managed to shoot down several helicopters of government forces.

Anti-tank systems

RPG-7 grenade launchers became the main anti-tank weapons of the soldiers of the self-proclaimed caliphate - they are cheap and easy to operate. Among the captured weapons were a number of Konkurs, Fagot anti-tank guided systems and Chinese HJ-8 ATGMs capable of hitting targets at distances of up to three kilometers. The most modern anti-tank system, which militants use, including against helicopters at low altitudes or hovering, is the American TOW, supplied by the United States of the so-called. "moderate opposition" in Syria. They account for the main losses of government armored vehicles and the bulk of the "media" campaign of IS militants.

Mortars

Since the end of 2013, ISIS has begun mass production and use of self-made Hellfire mortars. They are self-made howitzers, the shells for which are household gas cylinders stuffed with an enhanced charge of ammonium nitrate and striking elements to increase the number of victims. As a means of ensuring explosions, a home-made fuse or a regular one from artillery ammunition is equipped. Such a "projectile" can be equipped with a chemical poisonous substance (proven cases of the use of mustard gas and mustard gas by militants are known). The accuracy of such weapons is quite low, but the destructive power is very high.

Calculating ballistics with a tablet

Analyzing pictures from social networks and publicly available information on the Internet, it is clear that the militants use Apple iPad tablets with publicly available MBC (Mortar Ballistic Calculator) software for mortar guidance, which allows you to calculate the trajectory of mortar shells. By purchasing an application for little money and having data on wind, range to the target, etc. From the appropriate devices, easily available in online stores, IS militants can fire standard mortars with the necessary accuracy.

Summing up, it is worth saying that the weapons and military equipment of the militants described by us are by no means limited to the above. Due to the lack of weapons supplied on a regular basis and centrally, terrorists have to replace them with a motley mass of handicraft weapons and modified, altered, restored samples (such as the T-34 tank from the time of the Great Patriotic War, firing from which is carried out as from a gun remotely using a cord).

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In Syria, the civil war continues with might and main: some rebel groups are fighting with others, the army is fighting with the remnants of terrorists and Islamists of various persuasions. The military is pushing the militants in the south of Aleppo province and recording their own successes on video. In one of these videos Soviet howitzers M-30 model 1938, which, despite their advanced age, are actively used in the fight against jihadists. I looked at what other weapons rarities took part in the battles in the Arab Republic.

During the years of confrontation in Syria, machine guns, rifles and machine guns of almost all times and peoples have mixed up: something came into the country from abroad, something was captured by rebels and terrorists in army warehouses or even stolen from museums. Such a fate befell the Mosin rifles, from which the fighters of the armed opposition had to blow off the dust due to the lack of other barrels. Mostly carbines of the KO-91/30 type, created on the basis of the Mosinka, fell into their hands, but there are also older modifications of the three-ruler.

For 125 years, about 37 million Mosin rifles and its various modifications have been produced. They were used in a dozen wars and conflicts and still serve as the basis for a variety of alterations.

In the battles for Syria, no less interesting firearms were lit up - Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifles, mass-produced in the Third Reich. According to some sources, the Sturmgevers arrived in the Arab Republic at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s from the GDR, where they were used by people's police units before switching to Simonov's self-loading carbines and Kalashnikov assault rifles. The Syrians were supplied with the corresponding ammunition by the same GDR and Czechoslovakia, which was armed with this machine gun. These cartridges can still be obtained now: their production continues at the Serbian plant “Prvi Partizan”, however, production volumes are very limited and not designed for mass deliveries.

Over time, the Syrian military also did not need the Sturmgevers, but they were not sold or disposed of, but were carefully stored in warehouses. There they were discovered in August 2012 by the fighters "". They got five thousand StG 44s along with ammunition. Moreover, the rebels did not even immediately realize that in front of them were not the usual AKs, but entire deposits of German rarities. Soon machine guns were seen in street skirmishes. Probably more use could be made by trying to sell them to collectors: in 2012, one original "Sturmgever" in excellent condition was estimated at 30-40 thousand dollars, and over the years its value has been growing.

DP machine guns, like many other things, came to Syria from the GDR and other countries of the Warsaw Pact. In the USSR, the Degtyarev infantry machine gun was put into service in 1928 and was massively used by the Red Army until the end of the Great Patriotic War. After the war, the DP was replaced by the RPD and distributed to countries friendly to the Soviet regime. These machine guns were used in the Korean War, the Indo-Chinese conflicts, in the civil wars in Yugoslavia and Libya, and now they are found among the participants in the armed conflict in the Donbass and the Syrian rebels.

A similar situation has developed with large-caliber DShK machine gun, which, like the DP, went through the entire Great Patriotic War. It was used as an easel and anti-aircraft machine gun, was also installed on tanks, self-propelled guns and small ships. The DShK has a high rate of fire and is capable of hitting lightly armored vehicles. The mass of a machine gun without a wheeled machine exceeds 33 kilograms, but in Syria they found their own Rambos, which are enough for heaps of rubbish.

Anti-tank rifles also received a second life in the Arab Republic. This weapon was most massively used in World War II as a forced replacement for the missing anti-tank artillery. In addition, PTRs influenced the psychological state of the defending infantry: they helped soldiers overcome fear at the sight of enemy armored vehicles.

As the armor of military equipment increased, anti-tank rifles began to be used as large-caliber sniper rifles, capable of disabling, for example, enemy trucks or tank optical instruments from a long distance, or breaking through an obstacle behind which the enemy took cover. For these tasks, the fighters of the Syrian armed formations have finalized the Simonov anti-tank rifle (it is carried by a man in the background), and the government troops have seen a single-shot rifle of the Degtyarev system, which is used for its intended purpose.

Widespread in Syria, as in other Middle Eastern countries at war with terrorism, armed pickups. Both the military and the militants equip SUVs with twin anti-aircraft mounts, and then cut through the desert in search of adventure. These can be the ZU-23-2, whose modifications are made in Bulgaria, Poland and China, but more often something less massive is installed, for example, the ZPU-2 with coaxial 14.5 mm KPV machine guns.

In the USSR, these installations have been used since 1949, and there are also ZPU-2 in the armies of a dozen African countries. Instead of fighting aircraft, they were adapted for sudden raids on enemy checkpoints and shelling of manpower in urban areas. Pickup truck Toyota Land Cruiser 70 approached as a platform.

As for more serious weapons, German field howitzers of the 10.5 cm leFH 18M type stand out here. These guns were used by the Wehrmacht and the Finnish army in World War II and were adapted for transport on a horse-drawn cart. Then a number of howitzers were transferred to Syria, and one of them was preserved in the military museum in Damascus.

70 years after the Second World War, at least one such howitzer ended up in the hands of the militants of the Islamic Front, and it turned out that the gun was fully operational. It is not known for certain whether this howitzer served to the glory of Adolf Hitler: according to one version, it could be one of the post-war

There are millions of different weapons left from the Second World War, and not all of them went to the smelter or to the dusty shelves of the arsenals. Part continued their war, only in the hands of other soldiers.

We have written about soviet weapons, which is still serving its new owners, but the German samples also sold around the world. In its material, the site took a closer look at the weapons of the Wehrmacht era, which are now used in Syria.

STG 44

During World War II, the StG 44 assault rifles were mainly armed with elite SS units. Then the weapon was considered advanced, and indeed the StG 44 is the first weapon in its class that was mass-produced. In total, about 450 thousand of these machines were produced.

Terrorists with StG 44, Syria. flickr.com

Most of these weapons came from Czechoslovakia in 1950-1965. In addition, for a short time this assault rifle released in Turkey.

The rifle could be mounted optical and infrared sights. Of the shortcomings - the large weight of the weapon (5.2 kg), easily deformed receiver and a buttstock, the mount of which could break in hand-to-hand combat.

As an advantage, accuracy can be noted when firing single shots. However, the bursts also turned out well: on a target with a diameter of 11.5 cm at a distance of 100 m, more than half of the bullets fit into a circle with a diameter of 5.4 cm.

Wehrmacht light howitzer

The le.F.H.18M light howitzer could well have been used in the Battle of Stalingrad or any other fierce battle during the Great Patriotic War. This gun is a modernized version of the le.F.H.18 light howitzer, which was used by the Wehrmacht since the early days of World War II, but it had drawbacks, such as a relatively short firing range.

Production of an upgraded version began in 1940. Especially for shooting at maximum range, the Germans created high-explosive projectile 10.5 cm FH Gr Fern weighing 14.25 kg (TNT weight - 2.1 kg). When firing charge number  6 starting speed was 540 m/s, and the firing range was 12,325 m.

A total of 6933 such guns were produced. During the modernization, it was not possible to get rid of one serious drawback - a lot of weight. To solve this issue, the le.F.H.18M howitzer barrel was placed on a 75-mm carriage. anti-tank gun Cancer 40. The resulting "hybrid" was adopted under the designation le.F.H.18 / 40. The new gun had almost a quarter of a ton less weight in combat position.

After the war, these German howitzers were modernized in Czechoslovakia, where the le.F.H.18 / 40 barrel was put on the carriage of the Soviet 122-mm M-30 howitzer. Such a gun was designated le.F.H.18/40N. In Syria, such a howitzer was seen in the hands of the militants of the Ahrar al-Sham group.

MP-38/40

German MP-38/40 submachine guns were purchased by Damascus in small batches starting in the 60s. This weapon was not particularly popular in Syria. It was rarely seen in the hands of the security forces in the 70s, some of them were handed over to the Lebanese military.

This weapon has a number of advantages and disadvantages. The low rate of fire of the MP-38/40 allows an experienced shooter to conduct single fire with short trigger pulls.

The ammunition used in the MP-40 - 9 × 19 Parabellum, has a good stopping effect, but makes the PP useless at a distance of more than 150 meters.

MP-40 is sensitive to dirt due to the presence of a damper in the design. If dirt was packed inside the bolt frame, then shooting was impossible.

MG-34

The MG-34 is the first single machine gun ever put into service. The machine gun could be used in a manual or easel version, it was allowed to install an optical sight.

It has a high rate of fire (up to 1,000 rounds per minute) and has lethal ammunition (7.92×57 Mauser). This machine gun could be carried, it could easily support infantry units with fire.

Despite a lot of advantages, the MG-34 had obvious disadvantages - heavy weight, greater sensitivity to receiver contamination and thickening of the lubricant at low temperatures, which led to delays in firing.

At first civil war in Syria, a machine gun was used quite often - this weapon was one of the first stolen by militants from warehouses.

MG-42

This machine gun was created to replace the MG-34. The MG-42 turned out to be more reliable, cheaper, and its metal consumption was reduced by 50%. The new machine gun was not afraid of dirt and allowed for almost continuous firing.

The rate of fire of the MG-42 reached 1500 rds / min. After the Second World War, the career of this machine gun did not end, and it is still in service with many countries of the world.

By the way, gunsmiths from Beretta made a version called MG-42/59 for the Italian army during cold war(7.62 NATO cartridges are used), but the rate of fire was lower (800 rds / min.).

This version was seen in service with ISIS militants. As for the original MG-42s, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Syria received a small number of original World War II MG-42s from France and Czechoslovakia.