GHQ Models Forums

Last night, as I was sitting in front of the tube, watching "Combat School", about Mike Company, 3rd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, as they train for deployment in Afghanistan, it got me thinking into a very hypothetical...and I mean very, hypothetical Afghan scenario.
Basically...once I get it all figured out, is the insurgents manage to get themselves organized...and I mean really organized, by getting their hands on all sorts of equipment and such, and launch a well planned assault against NATO, US, French troops. What I would like to know is what type of armour and equipment is still around
in Afghanistan that still could be used against NATO units?
(Not that they would stand a chance....but would make for an interesting scenario )

T-55's, T-62's and so forth.

If you look on MicroMark list AS42M, the AFVs they had available back in 1990s were a few BRDM-2 at Brigade level, a Corps level Tank Battalion of T-55 and T-62, a Corps level BM-21-40 battalion, divsional level artillery regiment of 122mm D30, 122mm M38, 76mm M42 , 85mm D48 and 100mm M1944, a Corps level Artillery Regiment of 130mm M46 and 152mm D1 guns, and a corps level battery of Frog-7 or Scuds. The terms brigade, divisional and corps level are not actual, but an equivalent of soviet style, just to give an idea of the level of support.

Most of that is gone,and there are many pics on the net of wrecked T-55 all around Afghanistan, but you could pretend they refurbished some.. Nowadays most of the Taliban live in Pakistan when they are not trying to blow things up, so could have access to sympathetic Pakistani army equipment, which is mostly Type 59 tanks, M113, 105mm M101, 122mm Type 54 (m38) howitzers, 130mm M46, 81mm mortars, chinese AA guns, plus smaller amounts of western kit, eg m48A5, 120mm mortars, M109A2, TOW on Jeep, 106mm on Jeep, Stingers. IF the Pak army joined in in a big way then you could give them T-80UD.

Either way it would be a NATO wet dream if the Taliban went conventional - they would be wiped out in pretty short order by the Apaches, A-10s, B-1s and Tornados out there, before the Leo 2A6, Javelins and Warriors got to them.

But, interesting concept none-the-less. You might have a scenario where beleagured NATO outpost is being attacked by a regimental armoured group a la Rorke's Drift, what with NATO forces being so spread out in firebases virtually. A multi-national relief force led by a troop of Leo 2A6 could turn up after so many turns.

Mark

Probably more likely than Taleban going conventional would be an ANA unit going "rogue" for one reason or another. Maybe infiltrated by Taleban or drug lords or just wanting to carve out their own fiefdom or whatever. The endgame would be a whole lot of smouldering ex-ANA vehicles, but the early stages (ambushing NATO convoys with T55s and BMPs/BTRs rather than RPGs and IEDs) could be a lot harder on our team.

That actually makes more sense, an infiltrated ANA unit with a strong Taliban supporting attack. The current ANA TOE and OOB are available in the MicroMark range, the Mechanised Brigade has a mix of T-55, T-62, BMP-1, M113, SPG9, BMP/twin 23mm ZU-23-2, BTR-80 and 122mm D30 howitzers. They are planning to get ex-Norwegian and Canadian Leopard tanks in 2010, don't know if that will happen.

Mark