ISIS HAS BEEN losing some territory recently, but the Islamist group is carrying out more attacks than ever before.
One of the reasons that ISIS has been able to keep up its offensive operations is that has lot and lots of military equipment, much of it captured from the Iraqis.
That’s why ISIS has so much weaponry that originated in the US — the US gave loads of military hardware to the Iraqi army and ISIS took lots of it from them during a series of military victories.
Here are just a few of the weapons in ISIS’ arsenal.
T-55, T-62, T-72 tanks
It is estimated that ISIS has about 30 T-55 tanks, although it is unknown how well the organization can maintain and operate them.The T-55 tank series is a Soviet tank line that was produced from the end of World War II through the 1980s.
Despite the tanks’ age, they remain operational in up to 50 armies around the world. The tanks feature heavy armour, along with a 100-mm rifled gun and a secondary 7.62-mm machine gun.
They also have 15 T-62s and five to ten T-72s.
Armoured vehicles
The jihadists have captured an estimated six BRDM-2 armoured vehicles, as well as two MT-LBs 20 BMP-1 infantry vehicles and three 2S1 Gvozdikas and a fleet of Humvees.
AK-47s and weapons
Although ISIS does not have a weapon of choice, the AK-47 has become the group’s standard assault rifle because of its low cost, durability, availability, and ease of use.
They also have a number of B-10 and M40 recoilless artillery rifles.
Added to that, Isis has M79, RBG-6 and RPG-7 rocket and grenade launchers.
Heavy artillery
Media shows the group having access to three varieties of multiple-rocket launchers: the 57 mm UB-16, the 107 mm Type 63, and the 122 mm BM-21. These systems can fire multiple rockets a second at a range of approximately 13 miles.
ISIS also most likely captured howitzers, field guns, anti-aircraft guns from Iraqi Army troops after they fled their bases.
Added to that, the jihadists captured a number of shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft and anti-tank missile launchers.
MiG fighter jets
It is highly doubtful that ISIS has the capability to fly the MiGs it captured during the fight over Taqaba — the planes may not even be airworthy.
ISIS has captured plenty of weaponry that it most likely doesn’t have the expertise or military infrastructure to operate, includinga Russian version of the American Sidewinder missile that was looted from Taqaba and a ballistic missile that it paraded through Raqqa, Syria.
Nevertheless, ISIS fighters posed in front of Russian-made MiG-21B fighters after the battle:
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say