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Rick_Eshleman · Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2014 5:34 pm Post subject: T55 (ex-Iraq) with add-on armor

Here's 3 views from Aberdeen of the T55 with add-on armor. It may have been Chinese, as it was captured in first Gulf war 1991. It's long gone as a "monument" tank in front of the 203rd Military intelligence BN. An exact ID would be helpful, Thanks. Rick

Costas_TT · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Feb 15, 2012 Posts: 387

It apparently lacks the ventilator dome on the turret roof in front of the loader's hatch, which means it's a T-55.

Rick_Eshleman

Thanks Costas. It already appears to be some form of T55, but is it a T69? Here's a few more views to help. Rick

Rick_Eshleman

After a little research on the web here's what I found: T55 Enigma Command Tank. Based on the Soviet T55 or the Chinese T69/T79 Tank, several layers of spaced armor (the technique of choice for Iraqi Engineers) was successful in defeating shaped charged warheads. One unit reported at Khafji, SA, surviving several MILAN Missiles before being dispatched by a helicopter. This and a photo on WIKI seemed to prove that it was T55 Enigma. Rick

Costas_TT · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Feb 15, 2012 Posts: 387

The safest way to tell a T-55 apart from a Type 59/69 is the turret. The earlier T-54 and its Chinese offshoots have the aforementioned ventilator dome. Early T-55s had a loader's hatch without a gun mount.
The Type 59 is to all intents and purposes identical to the T-54, while the Type 69's salient recognition features are the location of the headlights (on the fenders instead of on the glacis), the stand-off protection provided by the turret stowage baskets, the skirts and/or their attachments, the (optional) smoke grenade dischargers on the turret and finally the bulge on the rear hull plate for the engine fan, a feature copied from the T-62.

As for the Enigma armor, I ran into this nice schematic of its composition:

Rick_Eshleman

Costas, Thanks again for the research! I hope My extra photos were helpful too. The schematics are a nice touch to them. Take care, Rick

Costas_TT · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Feb 15, 2012 Posts: 387

You are welcome.
The angles of the photos still don't clearly show the turret roof in front of the loader's (right) hatch, but it still seems to be a vanilla T-55 fitted with the Enigma kit - and the usual Iraqi shrouds over the IR searchlights.

Rick_Eshleman

Here's My final photos of it.

JimWeb

If anyone is interested as to how these vehicles came to be called 'enigma' a fair few years ago when the images of these vehicles first appeared I needed the real names for a military AFV Recognition Handbook I was producing and after much asking around I failed to find the name but on here Don commented that they were bit of an enigma and that's how they ended up with that particular name - still haven't managed to find the correct name but its probably 'Saddam' like everything else the Iraq's modified Wink

Rick_Eshleman

Thanks Jim. I wasn't sure how the name T55 Enigma came about. This particular vehicle was in front of the 203rd MI BN until about 2008. I photographed it about 1993 prior to Apr. 1, 1993 (Say March) when it was first used as a monument tank there. Rick

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