Osprey Publishing Vanguard: Technicals Non-Standard Tactical Vehicles from Great Toyota War to Modern Special Forces

 Over the last 30 years, the ‘technical' or armed pick-up truck has become arguably the most ubiquitous military land vehicle of modern warfare.

Harking back to the armed Jeeps and Chevrolet trucks of the SAS and Long Range Desert Group in North Africa in World War II, the world's first insurgent technicals were those of the Sahrawi People's Liberation Army in Algeria in the late 1970s, followed by the Chadian use of technology in the so-called Toyota War against Libya. Since then, technicals have seen use in Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, as well as being used by Western and Russian Special Forces.

Fully illustrated with commissioned artwork and providing rigorous analysis, this is the first history of how this deceptively simple fighting vehicle has been used and developed in conflicts worldwide.

Contents:

• Introduction
• Origins
• The Toyota War
• Somalia: The Rise of the Technical
• The Taliban's APC: Afghanistan 2001 onwards
• The Men of Sacrifice: Iraq 2003
• The Libyan Civil War
• The Endless War: Iraq and Syria 2011 onwards
• Back to Africa: Mali, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen
• Pimp my Hilux: Special Operations Forces Pick-ups
• Bibliography
• Soft Cover
• 48 Pages