Why ISIS Built These Mad Max-Style Moving Fortresses

Photo credit: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE - Getty Images
Photo credit: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE - Getty Images

From Popular Mechanics

  • The Islamic State captured several armored recovery vehicles during its rise, vehicles it turned into moving fortresses on the battlefield.

  • The vehicles were not high tech by any means, but better than nothing.

  • The "mobile battle fortresses" had a mixed record on the battlefield, with one destroyed in action and the other disappearing in the confusion of war.


The Islamic State may not have high-tech factories cranking out the latest in armored vehicles, but they do have blowtorches, steel plating, and captured garages. The result were vehicles that looked like they were driven off the set of a post-apocalyptic movie—but were quite effective against militias and other armed groups equipped with even less. Two in particular, “mobile battle fortresses” as the Oryx Blog describes them, looked like medieval castles on tank tracks.

In the mid-2010s the terrorist group known as the Islamic State quickly spread across Iraq and Syria, conquering large swathes of territory. IS, also known as Daesh, fanned out quickly across the Middle East, taking advantage of instability in the two countries to form their own totalitarian government. The group spread rapidly due to its ability to quickly incorporate captured weapons, including armored vehicles, into its ranks for fresh advances into new territory.

Not all of Daesh’s armored vehicles were real tanks and armored personnel carriers. The Oryx Blog has a new article on two “mobile battle fortresses” used in the battle for Mosul, Iraq. These vehicles were originally Ukrainian BTS-5B armored recovery vehicles (ARVs) purchased by the Iraqi government to tow away its T-72 main battle tanks. These vehicles were originally equipped with a crane for towing and lifting and are based on a T-72 tank chassis. They lack a turret and ammunition that a typical tank has. This gives them a relatively high horsepower to weight ratio and heavy frontal armor.

Daesh engineers equipped the ARVs with castle tower-like turrets made of steel plate. The first vehicle (above) mounted a 12.7-millimeter heavy machine gun and was equipped with mounts for light machine guns. The second vehicle (below) mounted both a mounted a 14.5 and 12.7-millimeter heavy machine gun and was equipped with mounts for lighter machine guns. The BTS-5B’s bulldozer blade was retained, useful for sweeping aside street obstacles.

The “mobile battle fortresses” were even fitted with so-called slat armor—bars of steel spaced closely together. Slat armor is designed to pre-detonate the shaped charge warhead of anti-tank weapons, particularly handheld RPGs. Slat armor is typically welded 2-3 feet from the actual armored vehicle, ensuring that the jet of molten material created by an anti-tank rocket or missile dissipates before it comes in contact with the real hull or turret armor.

Despite the vehicle’s heavy weaponry, much of the fighting was done by IS fighters with ordinary AK-47s and M-16s, firing over the sides of the armor plating. Daesh considers modern warfare, with its long distance air strikes and use of drones like the MQ-9 Reaper cowardly, and places a premium on individual heroism in battle. This was taken to its most logical conclusion by some vehicles, like the red one above, designed to be packed full of explosives and driven toward enemy front lines.

Daesh’s homebrewed tanks had their advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, they were very useful against competing militias that had no armored vehicles or heavy weapons at all. No matter how ridiculous an Islamic State mobile battle fortress looks, if one shows up on your doorstep and you can’t destroy or disable it you have a problem. The large, castle-like tower also offers excellent visibility to those inside.

Photo credit: Anton Novoderezhkin - Getty Images
Photo credit: Anton Novoderezhkin - Getty Images

On the other hand, these vehicles were amateurish and unsuited for modern warfare. Their tall structure made them highly visible on the battlefield, and against adversaries with modern anti-tank weapons they were easy targets. The slat armor was a visual impediment to the crew, particularly the driver. Finally, for vehicles that weighed 20 tons or more, they were relatively lightly armed, with only a few machine guns.

The Islamic State built at least two mobile battle fortresses. The first vehicle got stuck in a ditch just a year after being captured from the Iraqi Army. It was quickly destroyed by an anti-tank rocket. The fate of the second vehicle is unknown but is almost certainly rusting away somewhere, disabled or completely destroyed.

Source: Oryx Blog

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