While many of our articles were devoted to attempts by various factions fighting in the Middle East region to "improve" their armored vehicles, we have never touched on self-made upgrades of Kurdish armored vehicles. Not that there was a complete lack of homemade armored vehicles from northern Syria, but rather these local upgrades were often so terrible that we preferred to bypass them. However, several interesting projects have recently emerged in Kurdish-held territory, which are described in this article.
Two large workshops located in Aleppo province (Afrin district) and Hasaka province are engaged in the modernization and alteration of Kurdish armored vehicles. The Hasaka workshop is supported by several small workshops scattered throughout the province. Interestingly, this is very similar to the logistics of the Islamic State (banned in Russia) in Syria, which also organized two large workshops, supplied with parts and spare parts from several small workshops located in the territory occupied by the militants.
But compared to other large groups participating in the civil war in Syria, the YPG (Yekîneyên Parastina Gel - people's self-defense units; paramilitary wing of the Kurdish military committee) is the least fruitful in the homemade modernization of armored vehicles. In order to fill a similar gap in its capabilities, YPG has become very active in the production of homemade armored vehicles, usually based on tractors or trucks. As for normal factory armored vehicles, here the YPG group is counting on vehicles captured from the Islamic State, vehicles abandoned by the Syrian government army, and weapons transferred by it in exchange for safe passage (for example, after the retreat from Mennagh airbase in 2014). At that time, the YPG received three T-72 Ural tanks and one T-55A tank, which is undoubtedly a big jackpot for the YPG. But besides the simple operation of the captured vehicles in their original configuration, YPG is also modernizing most of the armored vehicles. Starting from simple things, for example, replacing the barrels of the ZSU-23 with the barrels from the ZU-23, and ending with the production of complete armor kits, all this is within the power of YPG.
After capturing the former base of the Syrian Arab army, the YPG militia also received a limited number of BTR-60s, decommissioned shortly before the outbreak of the civil war. Sometimes they were used by the defenders as long-term firing points, but most of these vehicles were abandoned and rusted in various corners of the Syrian base. Since the repair of these vehicles (almost all with flat wheels), according to other invaders, was too expensive and not worth the effort to restore them, the YPG group quickly became the largest operator of serviceable BTR-60s in Syria.
At least two of these BTR-60s have been upgraded by adding additional armor to the vehicle body and adding side skirts and mud deflectors to cover the wheels. Interestingly, one copy is equipped with a 12.7 mm DShK machine gun to replace the 14.5 mm KPVT machine gun, usually installed in the BTR-60 turret. This car in the picture below also received a new engine (as evidenced by a protruding part at this point), probably due to the fact that the original engine was damaged. Unfortunately for the YPG fighters (since they did not spend much effort on modernization), this car got stuck in a ditch while fleeing from Islamic State militants in Hasaka province, during which an BMP-1 was also captured. Before leaving the car, the crew removed the DShK machine gun, depriving the enemy of a valuable trophy.
Another rarity in the service of the YPG group is the MT-LB multipurpose tractor, of which there are as many as six in Syria, according to documented evidence. Two vehicles are in service with the Islamic State in Deir ez-Zor province, while four others are used by YPG fighters in Hasaka province. All six vehicles came from Iraq, where the Islamic State seized them from the Iraqi army. Although Syria bought almost all the armored vehicles available for export from the Soviet Union, it never bought the MT-LB. It is assumed that the machines operated by the YPG group were already in the hands of the Kurds even before the outbreak of the civil war in Syria.
Interestingly, the MT-LB in the pictures below have wider tracks. This modernization took place under Saddam Hussein. These machines are sometimes referred to as MT-TWV. Two MT-LB YPG groupings can be seen in the row of combat vehicles in the bottom photo, which also contains two T-55 tanks, upgraded by installing a machine gunner's shield, storage boxes and mud deflectors, as well as one bulldozer equipped with a BMP turret. 1.
Unlike Afrin District, where the YPG has only one T-55 tank, fighters in Hasaka province are currently armed with a significant number of T-55 tanks, mostly captured from the Islamic State. Some of them were immediately thrown into battle, but most of the T-55 tanks of the group were sent to workshops for repair and modernization. The level of modernization of each tank varies depending on its condition; tanks requiring minor repairs are sent to the front line as quickly as possible.
Much of the modernization process consists of installing a 12.7mm DShK loader-gunner's shield, new storage boxes, new mudguards and new paintwork, resulting in colorfully painted tanks in northern Syria. At least one T-55 tank was upgraded by installing lattice screens along the sides, which speaks of the impromptu nature of all these upgrades.
Not all combat vehicles captured on the battlefield are recoverable. A damaged turret or the absence of normal spare parts leads to the fact that the tank, although it can move, becomes completely useless in its role, since the weapons are inoperative. Whereas in the Syrian army this would mean decommissioning the tank, the YPG organizations, as a rule, refuse to send precious platforms to the landfill, and as a result, homemade light turrets can often be seen on YPG vehicles.
Two similar vehicles based on T-55 tanks, armed with 12, 7-mm W85 and 2x14, 5-mm KPV machine guns, as well as two BMP-1, whose turrets with 73-mm 2A28 Thunder cannon were replaced by turrets with a DShK machine gun, were filmed. As a result, these infantry fighting vehicles became very similar to the Czechoslovakian armored personnel carrier OT-90, equipped with an OT-64A turret, armed with one KPVT machine gun and one 7.62 mm PKT. It is curious that the second BMP-1 has another turret in the stern, into which at least some weapon will later be installed.
In order to install a new turret on the first T-55 tank, the original turret, and the gap in the turret support ring was tightly welded so that a smaller turret could be installed. Also interesting is the nose armor of the vehicle, which has been strengthened, with the result that the frontal plate has become more beveled than before. Finally, a storage box was added at the rear of the tank. A video of this machine with foreign fighters joining the YPG wing, as well as a training video with the tests of this machine-gun turret, appeared on the network.
Another photo of the same vehicle is shown below, where we see next to it another vehicle from the YPG M1117 Armored Security Vehicles (ASV) group. Several of these vehicles were inherited from the Iraqi army, while the rest were captured from the Islamic State and subsequently transferred to the Syrian wing of the YPG. This M1117 armored personnel carrier is armed with one KPVT machine gun in a makeshift turret and has reinforced protection in the form of metal sheets to protect the shooter and screens to protect the wheels.
The second converted T-55 tank was first seen during the attack on the city of al-Shaddadi in the province of Hanaka on the militants of the Islamic State, which ended with the capture of the city.
This specimen is distinguished, first of all, by the new, larger tower. Interestingly, this tower is very similar to the tower of the North Korean armored personnel carrier 323. But in reality, its origin is less exotic, since the same towers have already been seen earlier on "homemade" military vehicles of the YPG grouping.
The new turrets are armed with two 14.5 mm KPV machine guns, rather than one 12.7 mm DShK. This, along with the installation of on-board screens and a radio antenna, are the external hallmarks of this platform. The camouflage coloring, in contrast to the unpretentious coloring of the previous model, is more suitable for actions in the vicinity of the city of al-Shaddadi, where the fields are covered with green vegetation.
The situation with armored vehicles in Afrin District was previously critical, where until recently the YPG had no combat vehicles until the capture of Mennagh airbase, where it captured three T-72 Ural tanks, one T-55A tank with a North Korean laser rangefinder and one BMP-1 … They were subsequently modernized to varying degrees and then took part in the YPG offensive against the Syrian Free Army in northern Aleppo. Currently, two T-72 Ural tanks, the T-55A and the BMP-1, as well as another captured T-62, remain in the hands of the YPG.
The only BMP-1 in Afrin County has been upgraded with additional and reservations and, no longer surprisingly, storage boxes. The new protection consists of additional sheets covering the engine compartment and grating screens at the front of the machine. The tower also received additional steel plates, after which it became similar to the "Rugs" protection that was installed on later BMP-2s. The addition of side skirts and a storage box makes this vehicle similar to the BMP-1 Saddam of the former Iraqi army.
Also, the T-55A tank was captured from the Syrian government army and subsequently upgraded by the YPG organization. One of these tanks was modernized by the North Koreans several decades ago. This only T-55A tank operating in the Afrin district received new shields, side skirts, camouflage storage boxes and lattice screens to protect the stern.
The most valuable vehicles of the YPG grouping have also undergone certain upgrades. All three T-72 Ural tanks operating in the Afrin district have been modernized. Compared to the rather weak modernizations of the Republican Guard and the Islamic State, two of them received a full set of lattice screens and spaced armor to protect against HEAT shells. Apparently, female crews received T-72 tanks! (at least two of them)
The first (photo below) has lattice screens in the rear only plus side screens. In addition to these elements, the other two tanks have lattice screens around the entire hull and turret and other camouflage livery. Also on one tank, an infrared searchlight was broken and replaced with three headlights from a truck, combined into one group.
Unfortunately for the YPG, in March 2016, one of the modernized T-72 tanks was destroyed by a TOW ATGM fired by the Free Syrian Army. A TOW missile hit the car and ignited. At least one crew member was seen before the missile hit near the tank, not in it, but two others were in the tank and no doubt died.
With minimal chances of receiving large deliveries of military vehicles from abroad in the near future, almost all groups fighting in Syria are seeking to modernize armored combat vehicles of various types in order to increase their survivability. Therefore, the Syrian battlefield is now rapidly transforming into a collection of hitherto unseen iron crafts. The contribution of the Kurdish organization YPG in this area, previously limited by ridiculous "homemade" monsters, is now rapidly increasing, and its modified machines are striving to take their rightful place among the abundance of DIY projects in Syria.
