The "North Korean" T-55A from Syria was restored by the militia in Iraq

Fighters of the Iraqi People's militia have restored a captured T-55A medium tank. If you look closely, you can understand that this is not an ordinary combat vehicle.

The fact is that it was previously in service with the Syrian army and, apparently, was supplied from the Soviet Union in the 70s.

In the last decade of the last century, it became finally clear that the "fifty-fifths" in their original form are outdated and cannot compete with the armored vehicles of potential opponents. However, at that time, due to the lack of sufficient financial resources, it was not possible to carry out a modern modernization of the existing fleet.

After going through all the options, the command of the armed forces, in the end, decided to turn to North Korea, whose specialists proposed to improve the fire control system.

As a result, the T-55 had protected boxes with laser rangefinders over the barrels of 100-mm guns, and in the stowed position they were covered with massive covers.

Wind sensors were also installed on the roofs of the towers. The crew had a ballistic computer at their disposal. This equipment significantly increased the accuracy of shooting both from the spot and on the move.

At the same time, no measures were taken to improve security, the characteristics of mobility and maneuverability remained the same.

There is no exact data on how many T-55s were able to be modernized in this way, but such tanks took an active part in the battles with terrorists. Unfortunately, some of them were captured by militants of groups banned in Russia. They, in turn, shared equipment with extremists from neighboring Iraq, but government troops repulsed these tanks.

Alexey Moiseev