Heavy Gun Trucks of the Middle East
Islamic State Scania Truck with AK-230 Autocannon
This truck was captured by the 309th Battalion of the Libyan Army from the Islamic State (1) or a splinter group at some point pre-2017, and it has been given pretty common armouring on the sides to protect the wheels and the front cab. These larger trucks are common in Libya and the Middle East for mounting very heavy weapons and cannons.
The strange looking mount for the main gun is because the weapon is an AK-230 gun, allegedly taken from a Natya-class Minesweeper, which was an export model of minesweeper produced in Russia and eight were used by the Libyan Navy. The particular example above had it's main gun taken from Benghazi's Naval Base which was home to the Koni-class frigate 212 Al Hani, the Nanuchka-class corvette 416 Tariq-Ibn Ziyad, one of the few remaining Natya-class minesweepers and an inoperational Foxtrot-class submarine. However, the Al Hani left Benghazi a couple of years ago and the Tariq-Ibn Ziyad was set on fire by artillery and subsequently sunk.
The single Natya-class minesweeper already sunk close to a year before due a lack of maintenance, but not before it was deprived of both of its AK-230 gun emplacements, which were subsequently installed on the Kamaz and Scania trucks by the Libyan Army.
The AK-320 gun is a 30MM fully automatic anti-aircraft twin cannon, which does have the option to fire HE or AP ammunition, meaning it could be useful for ground combat, but because of it's non-standard ammunition type compared to the much more common infantry/vehicle weapons they must have captured a considerable amount of ammunition to bother mounting it to a Scania truck. Because of the height of the gun and the additional plates added to the front cab, the gun would only be able to be fired at ground targets from the sides or rear, unless it was used in the anti-air role, which is possible.
The weapon is somewhat similar to a twin-mounted GAU-8 in rate of fire and effectiveness, so it would be an incredible force multiplier provided they were able to feed it the massive amount of ammo it needs to be combat operational, something they were able to do as the vehicle was still operational in December 2019, where it saw combat in Tripoli while being used by the 309 Battalion, part of the Libyan National Army. (1)
Syrian Arab Army Scania with S-60 Anti-Air Cannon
This is another Scania 2 series truck, originally from Sweden, being used as a mount for a 57MM AZP S-60 anti-air/ general purpose cannon. It is being used by the Syrian Arab Army, pro-Syrian government forces in Syria, and dates to sometime pre-2016.
The vehicle itself has had a simple camo pattern added, as well as additional armour to the engine and sides, as well as the construction of a large square armoured shell for the gun itself. I mentioned the S-60 in an earlier post, as the gun was originally made for AA use, but as a light cannon it's very effective in open areas and urban fighting compared to heavier tank cannons, meaning it's very popular to use AA weapons against infantry and buildings. The S-60 is too heavy to be used on offroad/ute/pickup technicals so is fitted to trucks (as in this case) or armoured vehicles instead. (2)
I presume this would actually be a decently useful weapon, as it's a sufficiently high calibre and can use AP rounds that it could deal with light armour such as BMP's or other technicals, but it has a rate of fire and the option for airburst HE for use against aircraft, infantry clusters or ground structures such as buildings while still keeping up a decent tempo of fire on a target, unlike a full MBT, and it is of course easier to find trucks than T-72's and making something like this would require less resources and be cheaper than a full MBT, or an attempt to retrofit a MBT hull onto a technical or truck hull that is sufficiently strong enough to handle it being used in combat.
Islamic State Anti-drone Artillery
A cargo truck converted by the Islamic State in 2016 with the addition of a D-30 122MM artillery gun, designed for use against ground targets, being re-purposed as an anti-aircraft gun by IS Al-Farouq Platoon (of the Wilayat Ninawa Air Defence Battalion) troops in at attempt to down American aircraft near the city of Mosul, Iraq. The vehicle itself is a military M35 cargo truck, and has been fitted with stabilising braces to improve accuracy and reduce recoil from the main gun, but they are not in use in this picture. The gun itself was likely captured from Syrian forces in 2014.
The D-30 122MM howitzer itself is a multi-role Soviet era direct fire anti-tank gun and conventional artillery piece from the 1960's, and it was not designed for the anti-air role in any way, and was used by Islamic State as an impromptu anti-drone pice due to a lack of true anti-air weapons at the time around Mosul.
Here you can see the airburst from the D-30 high explosive round as it attempts to down the spyplane over Mosul in 2016. The spyplanes, P-3 Orions, are rather slow moving compared to many other aircraft, so seem to have been the main target for the artillery converted into air-aircraft guns, several of which were built around Mosul, but were never actually successful as anti-aircraft guns, being also used as conventional artillery pieces. (3)
Kurdish Armoured Bus
Tthis vehicle is massive compared to most of the other non-IED's I've seen and it was used by Kurdish forces in Iraq circa 2015.
It's armaments include a central lightly armoured cupola with what appears to be 4 SPG-9 recoiless rifles linked to a single mount as well as a secondary, rear mounted cupola with some sort of HMG in it. I was not able to get a good photo of the HMG, but it does not look like it has a compensator/muzzle break on the end.
The vehicle is also fitted with what looks like a truck tow/ trailer bar at the front of the vehicle, and for safety they have some nice Halogen headlights mounted externally as the extensive armouring the vehicle has undergone meant that the original lights are not able to work. The base vehicle is either a large truck or a bus that has been extensively up-armoured on the driver's compartment and the side doors, as well as the engine area and troop bay. The photo on the front of the vehicle's cupola is likely a Martyr photo of a Kurdish fighter.
2- Byman, Daniel, ‘Al Qaeda, the Islamic State, and the Global Jihadist Movement: What Everyone Needs to Know.’, Oxford, (2015)
3- Oryx, 'That Time Soviet Howitzers Were Used as Anti-Aircraft Guns by the Islamic State' (2019)