Saladin Mates With an APC In The Jungle

Harken back to 1971. sec 41 and 42 in Vietnam. Boy is that familiar. Right Beastie boys.

During the two decade Tamil rebellion in Sri Lanka (recently concluded with a rebel defeat), the Tamil minority showed enormous resourcefulness in their fight to partition the island (into Tamil and non-Tamil nations). When the Sri Lankan army recently scoured territory long controlled by the Tamil rebels, they found all manner of improvised weapons. But none was as amazing as a Tamil "tank" that had been improvised by mounting the turret, from a captured (British made) FV601 Saladin reconnaissance vehicle (a six wheeled armored car), on a (Chinese made) Type 63 tracked APC (Armored Personnel Carrier.) The result was a lightly armored, 13 ton tank, armed with a 76mm gun. The Saladin usually has a crew of three, but the slightly roomier Type 63 Saladin could probably hold four or five. This is apparently a one-of-a-kind vehicle, and testimony to wartime grit, determination and unwillingness to waste anything. And probably worth quite a bit on the armor vehicle collectibles market.