Another dispatch from the front lines.
This “gun motor carriage” has been set up to bring a crew served Browning M-2 into action on behalf of the cartels. They modified this stake bed truck with steel plate behind the wood, but they didn’t include any anti-spalling material so you know that if that position is taking hits, there will be metal splinters spalling off and creating a nasty environment for those operating the machine gun. There are bullet proof glass panels set into the side of the rack.
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| Browning M-2 – .50 caliber air cooled machine gun |
The cab of the truck is also armored to protect the driver and whoever is ‘riding shotgun’.
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| QLZ 87 |
I’ve seen cartel plans to mount Norinco (Chinese) QLZ 87 grenade launchers in the backs of these trucks to provide for medium support but the training for the crews has not been able to field a situation where they could get a reliable hit. The Chinese blame the cartel soldiers. The Cartels blame Chinese crap equipment. Who can distribute blame reliably? Not me. I’ll leave it for you all to decide.
Man, I'd pay good pesos for one of those grenade launchers!
During the years of ObamaNation, you could walk across the border with one. Now, you'd better hurry before President Trump closes things off.
Are the cartels getting some tips from the jihadists?
There is always that rumor that floats, but no, not really. They do buy containers of firearms (usually AK-47's and RPG-7's) from jihadi inventory, but that's where it ends. The military tactics of spray and pray are simply the result of little/no training. The narcos arm people and use them as cannon fodder to attrit the opposition. A lot of these narco soldiers are making on the order of $100/week, which is a fortune to Mexican people living in the hill country where there is no running water for many villages. Training is considered a waste of time because their life expectancies are not long.
They've gotten better in constructing their version of technicals…
It's Darwinian
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