Use of Civilian Type Hardware in Conflicts - Still an Option?

Fukuyama

Just read that during a brief conflict between Honduras and El Salvador in 1969 - the ill equipped El Salvador 'took charge' of a few passenger jets and strapped bombs to the wings. The bombs were then released over Honduras targets which crippled their better equipped air force, for a time.

Seems like a cool idea!

I also recall a plan by the Irish army to grab a few CIE coaches from Dublin and use them to ferry troops into Newry when they were drawing up plans to 'invade' in 1969.

Does this kind of thing still happen in modern warfare? OR has sophisticated weaponry made using soft skinned vehicles with retrofitted equipment a non-starter.

It certainly seems like a great way to bulk up your transport and logistics in times of need. Particularly interested in state usage of civilian gear in a military role - obviously guerrilla groups and irregular forces tend to use it a lot.

Sierra Oscar

You only need to look at the Syrian Civil War to see that both sides have been using civilian buses quite extensively to support their military operations. You can see the Syrian Arab Army using civilian buses here and here for example. There are a number of videos out there showing SAA tanks storming rebel positions followed by lightly armored buses transporting soldiers to the scene of the battle.

Quite a number of battles have been fought around bus depots with the aim of capturing vehicles for transportation. I think in times of unexpected warfare, which is pretty often, militaries will use whatever is at their disposal to achieve their goals.

galwaycyclist

Somewhere in the recesses of my mind I recall things like a registry being kept somewhere of "civilian" items like JCBs, Bulldozers etc. i.e equipment useful for field engineering.

This is not just a military interest but also has civil defence value.

I would say most reasonably developed countries keep a list of civilian assets that might be co-opted in case of national emergency.

Gatling

In sri Lanka Tamil tigers used kit built small type cesna's to bomb military targets belonging to government forces a few years back using a mixture of home made bombs and grenades

The Diabolical Monocle

Ryanair ICBMs !!


Packed with fertilizer.

Fukuyama

galwaycyclist wrote: »

Somewhere in the recesses of my mind I recall things like a registry being kept somewhere of "civilian" items like JCBs, Bulldozers etc. i.e equipment useful for field engineering.

This is not just a military interest but also has civil defence value.

I would say most reasonably developed countries keep a list of civilian assets that might be co-opted in case of national emergency.

Does Emergency Powers in Ireland allow say, the defence forces or gardaí to take such equipment without permission?

Certainly seems reasonable to have such a registry in any case.

I've often wondered what Ireland's response capacity would be if there was ever a one-in-a-million super storm or typhoon (like The Philippines right now...). The only real test thus far has been a spot of flooding or two inches of snow.

Miceail22

Dean0088 wrote: »

Does Emergency Powers in Ireland allow say, the defence forces or gardaí to take such equipment without permission?

.

Yes it's called NAMA

Stovepipe

Let me give you an example of what is genuinely done: all non-public airfields, ie, private airfields and airstrips are inspected by the IAA (regardless of whether they intend to give it a license or not---airfields for private use don't have to be licensed) and their position and dimensions are marked. This information goes to the Dept of Defence and then the Air Corps. Such airstrips get marked on maps. At least two airstrip owners that I know have been visited by the Gardaí/Army or Air Corps and had their premises inspected, in case of emergency need. At least one of them had an impromptu visit from an Air Corps 135 when assistance was being provided to the Gardaí and Gardai had to be picked up. Quite simply, the aircrews would rather land on a flat, level airstrip, with access to fuel, a phone, water, light, heat, etc than just any old field. Every airstrip owner, if he has any sense, also notifies the location of his airstrip to the Gardai, fire brigade and local doctor, just in case.

regards
Stovepipe