Hi this will be a thread on Iraqi vehicles, this time as a whole not just Air, Naval, Helicopter or Ground vehicle though it will mostly focus on the last one since that is where the Majority of the Unique Iraqi designs. Either purely domestic designs or domestic derivativities and/or upgrades of foreign designs. I will mostly be focusing on Vehicles that Iraq operated, produced and/or, modified starting from the Qasimist Iraqi Republic onwards
If there is any errors or potential additional vehicles that can be added please let me know
The Asad Babil’s and the T-55’s/Type-69 Enigma’s will be added soon
Ground
Domestic Designs
Al Manjoon: Joint Zuid-Afrikaner-Iraqi Venture: The Al Manjoon was a unique Iraqi variant of the G6 Rhino SPG with a lot of the same people who worked on the G6 involved in it including famed Canadian weapons engineer Gerald Bull. The Al-Manjoon had a few differences over the G6 which included the following
- A Brand new turret with a more boxy appearance, the chassis also had a somewhat different appearance
- A new, more powerful engine that increases the maximum [off road] top speed to 70kph
- An MSRI found on the G6-52
- The crew was reduced from 5 to 3
The Al-Manjoon was shown off at the 1989 Baghdad Weapons Exhibition alongside the Al-Fao and a few other Iraqi vehicles was greenlight for a production run after successful testing in 1990 however it was ultimately halted due to crippling embargoes placed on Iraq including arms embargoes. It didn’t helped that Gerald Bull, one of the key designers was assassinated by Mossad for his involvement in the developing Project Babylon. Essentially a massive gun with Israel being the [main] intended target, a field that Gerald Bull pioneered through earlier projects with other nations such as Project HARP
Al Fao: The Al-Fao is a Iraqi SPG that was an evolution of the Al-Manjoon SPG. Iraq’s domestically built variant of the venerable Zuid Afrikan G6 Rhino, using a lot of the same components from the Al-Manjoon. Like with the G6 it was designed with the supervision of famed Canadian weapons engineer Gerald Bull who also had some capacity in the design of the Al-Manjoon and Al-Fao. The main feature of the Al-Fao over the Al-Manjoon is that the 155mm G5 Howitzer is swapped with a 210mm Howitzer of an unknown type (most likely domestically made). It never passed the prototype phase for various reasons
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Al Manjoon (left) and Al Fao (right) for comparison
Link to a live suggestion for the addition of the Al-Fao
Al Kafeel 1: The Al Kafeel is a prototype MBT that is a extensive upgrade package for Iraq’s existing stock of T-55’s/Type-59’s. The upgrade package Includes the following
- ERA and Spaced Armour
- A new turret, that retains the 100mm that the T-55/Type-59, it also contains a autoloader and Turret blowout panels akin to what you find on an M1 Abrahams, an MBT that Iraq operates extensively
- An domestically built RCWS consisting of a M2HB Browning HMG
- New Ballistics Computer and FCS
- New panoramic sights to minimize blind spots
The Hull also went extensive modifications to make the addition of the new armour pack possible. The first prototype was shown back in 2018, it is currently unknown that if the Al Kafeel upgrade package has being accepted into service
Note: I have seen images of other unknown Iraqi MBT’s in various states of disrepair but i need to find them
Modified foreign designs
Iraqi Modified EE-9 Cascavels:
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Iraq was arguably one of the most prolific if not the most prolific user of the EE-9 Cascavel outside of the Western Hemisphere mostly in the form of the Mk.3 variant. Iraq first operated them since the late 1970’s, first seeing service in the Iran-Iraq war, many of them were lost or captured during the conflict hence why Iran operated a large number of Cascavels. They also saw service in both Gulf wars and the Iraqi Civil war which includes the war against ISIL. Even during the Saddam era the Iraqi’s were doing modifications on their Cascavels thought it is not until Saddam Hussein was deposed when the Modifications really start to pick up paste. One unique upgrade that the base Casacvel can get is a roof mounted 50.cal (either M2 Browning or DSHK) since Iraq modified them for the addition of that weapon type
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Even though the HMG is absent the Roof HMG mount is still visible
EE-9 Cascavel (M40A1):
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Some EE-9’s were equipped with additional M40A1 recoilless rifles to supplement the firepower of the 90mm that the Cascavel used
EE-9 Cascavel (ET-25): Built in Brazil intended for the Iraqi Army
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The EE-9 with the ET-25 is a proposed variant of the Cascavel for the Iraqi Army intended for Reece roles. As the name suggests the original turret was replaced with a new design with a 25mm Oerlikon autocannon
The EE-9 ET-25 had one functioning prototype and was extensively tested by the Iraqi army however it wasn’t accepted into service
Link to a live suggestion for the addition of the EE-9 ET-25
EE-9 2A28 Grom:
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The EE-9 with the 2A28 Grom cannon is one of many modifications that the Iraqi’s did to their Cascavels post Saddam years. Essentially they replaced the 90mm cannon with the 2A28 Grom laying around in derelict BMP-1’s that Iraq operated
You will notice that there is armour plating around the wheel arches of the Cascavels, obstructing the visibility of the wheels, this is found most of the modified Post-Saddam Era Iraqi EE-9’s
EE-9 Cascavel+ZU-23-2:
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Some Iraqi’s Cascavels are equipped with the 23mm ZU-23-2 either replacing the 90mm, a very brief overview will be present further down the list, or supplementing the 90mm cannon, mostly used for anti-infantry and light vehicle purposes
This specific upgrade also includes a new armoured shield mounted on the 90mm and turret itself, mostly for anti-shrapnel purposes
EE-9 37mm M1939:
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At least one Iraqi Casacvel had it’s 90mm cannon removed and replaced with a 37mm M1939 autocannon
EE-9 ZU-23-2:
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As i alluded in the overview of the EE-9+ZU-23-2, the Iraqi Army also made a dedicated EE-9 where the 90mm is completely replaced with a 23mm ZU-23-2 in a modified housing
EE-9 Cascavel (Type-63 MLRS):
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Here is an Iraqi army EE-9 used as a platform for the Type-63 MLRS mounted ontop of the turret. It is not clear if the 90mm is present and functioning or it was omitted just leaving the barrel as a decoy akin to the Israeli Pereh ATGM carrier
Interestingly this upgrade lacks the armour pack around the wheel arches
Iraqi Modified BTR-50’s/OT-62’s:
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Iraq was also an extensive operator of the BTR-50 and it’s Czecho-Polish counterpart the OT-62 and like with the EE-9 Cascavels, Iraq modified them for various purposes
BTR-50 ZU-23-2:
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Iraq has mounted the ZU-23-2 autocannon on their BTR-50’s and OT-62’s, with both just a unarmoured mounting and a version with a dedicated turret, mostly for anti-air and anti-infantry purposes
Unarmoured mounting variant
Turreted variant
BTR-50 ZK453:
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Some Iraqi BTR-50 had the 30mm autocannons from M53/59 Praga’s alongside the turret mounted ontop of it. Like with the Cascavels a lot of them have fallen into Iranian hands during the Iran-Iraq war
OT-62A Cascavel:
Iraqi Modified MT-LB’s:
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The MT-LB APC is another vehicle that the Iraqi army extensively uses and like with the BTR-50’s/OT-62’s and Cascavels they saw some modifications
MT-LB ZU-23-2:
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Self explanatory, is extensively used by the Iraqi army for anti-air and anti-infantry roles. The least interesting
variant since some other MT-LB operators did similar upgrades to their MT-LB like the Polish Promet for example
MT-LB ZPU:
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An MT-LB with a turret mounting a 14.5mm ZPU HMG, used in a lot of the same purposes as the MT-LB ZU-23-2
BMTLP1
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An MT-LB with a turret from a BMP-1
MT-LB MLRS:
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This was a MT-LB modified to be a MLRS using a mounting consisting of 4 UB-32 rocketpods
BMP-1 Saddam:
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The BMP-1 Saddam was a domestic upgrade package of the BMP-1 that was prototyped during the late 1980’s. The first iteration known as the “Saddam-1” is mainly an armour package, giving it enough armour to stop 14.5mm and even some 20mm autocannon fire. However this came at a massive cost, firstly it made it very heavy making amphibious operations an impossibility though due to Iraq’s geography being mostly either desert or dry mountains so that is not much of an issue for the Iraqi’s. The second and more critical issue is because of the added without an engine swap the performance of the BMP-1 with the Saddam armour pack greatly suffered. Because of that the Saddam-1 wasn’t implemented on Iraq’s BMP-1’s and a second iteration known as the “BMP Saddam-2” which is to remedy the performance issue as well as other improvements and changes. This too wasn’t implemented though for completely different reasons
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BMP Hybrid:
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This is a odd case of a Iraqi BMP-1 that had it’s original 2A28 Grom removed and replaced with a 30mm from a BMP-2 (Iraq operated all 3 of the BMP’s)
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OT M-60PB:
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Iraq purchased 190 OT M-60PB’s from Yugoslavia during the late 1970’s and saw some minor service in the Iran-Iraq war. The Iraqi’s were especially not impressed with the performance and especially the reliability of the vehicle to the point that it permanently put off Saddam Hussein from buying any weapons from Yugoslavia, saying something to the effect of “If you want to stay as friends don’t send us any weapons”. Iraq won’t use any weapons of Yugoslav/Post Yugoslav origin until Saddam was deposed in 2003
The main difference between the Iraqi OT M-60 and the Yugoslav OT M-60 is that the Iraqi’s used a DSHK HMG instead of a M2 Browning
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Link to a live suggestion for the addition of the Iraqi OT-M-60
OT M-60PB in Iraqi service
M113 M40A1+ZU-23-1:
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This is an Iraqi M113 with a primary M40A1 recoilless rifle and a secondary ZU-23-1 autocannon, essentially a budget Spz-12-3 LGS
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Humvee (9M133):
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Iraq operated more than 10,000 Humvees from the US starting from 2003-onwards (excluding Humvees operated by Iraqi Kurdistan and Assyrian Militias). 2300 were captured by ISIL during their rise in 2014 with most of them only to be recaptured either by the Iraqi Army, the Peshmerga, or other anti-ISIL militias by a global coalition in the goal of destroying ISIL which Included Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan. The Iraqi’s did several modifications that are unique to them such as giving domestic armour packs, some equipped with a makeshift turret with a ZU-23-2 autocannon. However this specific variant isn’t about that modification, no this specific variant is closer to the run of the mill ATGM carrier variant of the Humvee with one major difference. The Iraqi used their Humvees in the context of anti-tank/armour role as a ATGM carrier for the 9M133 “Kornet” ATGM. This is not unique to Iraq since the Hellenic and Ukrainian Armies also used the Humvee as a carrier for the Kornet however Iraq is a more prominent user of the Humvee Kornet carrier due to Iraq’s preference to the 9M133 over the TOW ATGM
PT-76 130 & T-55 130:
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At least one Iraqi PT-76B & T-55 had their turrets removed and replaced with a custom back-opened turret mounting a 130mm cannon, mostly for TD and long-range support purposes
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PT-76 130
T-55 130
Foreign Designs
Churchill Mk.VII: Inherited from the UK/Hashemite Kingdom
FV601 Saladin: Inherited from the UK/Hashemite Kingdom, some captured from Kuwait
FV107 Scorpion: Some captured from Iran
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M24 Chaffee:
M36B1
AML-60 & 90
AuF1:
AMX-10P:
M1978 Koksan:
T-72M Rakhsh:
BMP-1A1GR & Pbv-501A:
BTR-4:
BTR-94:
M-53/59 Praga:
