Here is another awesome article from Tanks Encyclopedia. Check them out. More of these types of articles are coming soon. This article inspired me to write about Heemeyer’s armored bulldozer. Monstruo = monster in Spanish for those who didn’t know.

Author: Willkers

Illustrator: David Bocquelet

Original Post

The most famous, and perhaps one of the most heavily armed Narco Tanks, “Monstruo 2010“. It is believed to be one of the first Narco Tanks ever discovered by authorities. It features a satellite communication device to track police and military communications. It also has smoke-screen, oil-slicking, and nail-dropping devices. It has a heavy steel battering ram on the front, which is also electrified with up to 700 volts! Seized in Jalisco, May, 2011.

The real Mad Max cars

Narco Tanks (known as “Narco tanques” in Spanish) is an umbrella term made by the media for all of the improvised fighting vehicles used by drugs cartels in Mexico. They are seen mostly in the states bordering the USA because these areas have become zones of intense conflict between cartels competing for drugs smuggling routes. These vehicles look like something from the post-apocalyptic film, Mad Max, and were first reported at some point between 2010 and 2011, although the media in Mexico often waits to report on certain cartel-related stories for fear of reprisal attacks. They are based on SUVs and commercial vehicles, and they are tooled up with armor, turrets, mounted weapons, and even James Bond-like gadgets. Created in illicit workshops, these vehicles are well-known for their exotic designs, but for the local Mexicans, they are weapons of an ever-escalating and ever-deadlier inter-cartel war that even the military has been involved in for over ten years.

Continue reading “The Narco’s Mexican Monsters” →

The Romanians made their own semi-copy of the T-72 with only a few prototypes built in the 80’s. The TR-125 was possible because of reverse engineering. They used the few T-72Ms that they received from the Soviet Union as a template. This tank was kept in secrecy for decades until it was refurbished and revealed to the public at the Bucharest Military Museum recently. The TR-125 isn’t entirely a copy. The hull is quite different in terms of size, general design, and road wheels (seven smaller road wheels on each side). It is longer, wider, and taller. However, this caused it to weigh 50 tons instead of the T-72’s 40 tons. The plus side is that it features increased armor and a more powerful engine. The turret is almost a copy, but I suspect some Chinese technology was a part of the development. Continue reading “TR-125 Pictures and Short Description” →