List of equipment of the Tunisian Army

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This is a list of equipment used by the Tunisian Army.

Current equipment[edit]

Small arms[edit]

Name Image Caliber Type Origin Notes
Pistols
Browning HP-35 9×19mm Parabellum Semi-automatic pistol  Belgium /  United States Standard service pistol
Beretta M1951 9×19mm Parabellum Semi-automatic pistol  Italy Limited use or possibly no longer in service
Submachine guns
Heckler & Koch MP5 9×19mm Parabellum Submachine gun  West Germany Used by special forces units.
Beretta M12 9×19mm Parabellum Submachine gun  Italy In use also within police and national guard
Shotguns
Franchi SPAS-15 12 gauge Shotgun  Italy
Assault Rifles, Battle Rifles
Steyr AUG 5.56×45mm NATO Assault rifle  Austria Steyr AUG A1 is standard issue assault rifle since 1978.
Steyr AUG A2 and Steyr AUG A3 in use by special forces units
M4 carbine 5.56×45mm NATO Assault rifle, Carbine  United States Used by special forces units, and probably in the way to replace Steyr AUG as it is seen with regular army units.
M16 rifle 5.56×45mm NATO Assault rifle  United States Limited service rifle. Used by special forces units.
AKM 7.62×39mm Assault rifle  Soviet Union Used by Saharian territory infantry units.
Type 56 7.62×39mm Assault rifle  China Used by Saharian territory infantry units.
FN FAL 7.62×51mm NATO Battle rifle  Belgium No longer in use within the army. In limited use with national guard
Machine guns
FN Minimi 5.56×45mm NATO Light machine gun, Squad automatic weapon  Belgium /  United States Used as a squad automatic weapon by infantry.
FN MAG 7.62×51mm NATO General-purpose machine gun  Belgium Used by infantry as general-purpose machine gun and by Tunisian Air Force mounted on helicopters
M60 7.62×51mm NATO General-purpose machine gun  United States Standard general-purpose machine gun. Variants include M60E6
MG 3 7.62×51mm NATO General-purpose machine gun  West Germany
M2 Browning 12.7×99mm NATO Heavy machine gun  United States Heavy support machine gun used on tripod or mounted on vehicles.
M1919 Browning 7.62×63mm NATO Medium machine gun  United States Limited use
Sniper rifles
Steyr SSG 69 7.62×51mm NATO Sniper rifle  Austria Standard service sniper rifle.
Barrett M82 12.7×99mm NATO Anti materiel sniper rifle  United States Used by special forces units.
Grenade launchers
M203 40 mm Grenade launcher  United States Grenade launcher coupled on Steyr AUG and M4.
Mk 19 40 mm Automatic grenade launcher  United States Heavy support grenade launcher mounted on vehicles.

Artillery[edit]

Name Image Type Number Origin Notes
Towed artillery
M198 155mm towed howitzer 57[1]  United States Main artillery piece equipping 3 artillery battalions each attached to an Infantry Mechanized Brigade
Heavily deployed during Chaambi Operations
Delivered in 1989
M101A1 howitzer 105mm towed howitzer 10-48[1]  United States Probably never commissioned in Tunisian Army service following an inconclusive test
Delivered in 1981
Mortars
M30 107mm heavy mortar 144  United States 78 towed + 36 mounted in mortar carriers M106A2 as self-propelled heavy mortars
M29 81mm medium mortar 96  United States
Hirtenberger M6C-210 Light Mortar 300  Austria

Anti-tank weapons[edit]

Name Image Type Caliber Origin Notes
Anti-tank guided missile
BGM-71 TOW Anti-tank missile 152 mm with warhead  United States Mounted on HMMWV with some assumed to equip M901 ITV thus no evidence to confirm it.
Number of launchers is unknown, but considering the army organisation should be around 36.
454 missiles delivered in 1982 and 180 missiles delivered in 2006[1]
MILAN Anti-tank missile 115 mm with warhead  France
 West Germany /
 Germany
Number of launchers is unknown.
100 missiles delivered in 1981 and 40 missiles delivered in 1997
Recoilless guns
M40 recoilless rifle Recoilless rifle 105 mm  United States 70 in service
Carl Gustaf 8.4cm recoilless rifle Recoilless rifle 84 mm rifled  Sweden Running the M3 version but the number of pieces are unknown. Has been seen in some pictures within tunisian soldiers.
Shoulder launched anti-tank rocket
LRAC F1 Rocket-propelled grenade launcher 89 mm  France Unknown number of launchers, could be around 600

Anti-aircraft weapons[edit]

Name Image Type Number Origin Notes
Surface-to-air missiles and early-warning radars
M-48 Chaparral Surface-to-air missile 46  United States 26 M-48 launchers and 354 MIM72C missiles delivered in 1979
311 MIM72F Charparral missiles delivered in 1983
20 M-48 launchers, 300 MIM72C and 300 MIM72F Charparral missiles delivered in 2002 (second hand; aid)[1] Unknown serviceability.
RBS-70 Bofors Surface-to-air missile 60  Sweden Delivered on since 1981, including 300 missiles in various batch.
Giraffe 40 radar Medium-short rang radar 12  Sweden Delivered in 1981
Anti-aircraft guns
Zastava M55 3x20mm anti-aircraft guns 100  Yugoslavia Mostly employed as direct-fire artillery.

Tanks[edit]

Name Image Type Number Origin Notes
Main battle tanks
M60A1/A3 Patton Main battle tank 90  United States 54 M60A3 delivered in 1984 ($92m deal worth) and 30 M60A1 probably second hand[1]
Equipping 2 tank battalions each attached to an infantry mechanized brigade
Light tanks
SK-105 Kürassier Light tank 55  Austria Delivered in 1979 equipped with FL-12 105mm tank turret of french AMX-13
Equipping 1 tank battalion attached to one infantry mechanized brigade

Reconnaissance[edit]

Name Image Type Number Origin Notes
Armored scout cars
Panhard AML60/90 Armored Scout Car 36  France 18 armored car delivered in 1970 and 10 second hand delivered in 1999. Variants includes AML-90 equipped with a 90mm gun and AML-60 equipped with a 60mm mortar
EE-9 Cascavel Armored Scout Car 36  Brazil

Armored vehicles[edit]

Name Image Type Number Origin Notes
Armoured personnel carriers
M113 Armoured personnel carrier 300  United States M113A1 : 30 delivered in 1974 + 60 delivered in 1981
M-577A1 CP : 20 delivered in 1981 + 6 delivered in 2003[1]
Equipping 3 mechanized infantry battalions each attached to a mechanized infantry Brigade
Fiat-Otobreda 6614 Armoured personnel carrier 120  Italy Delivered in 1980
Equipping 3 mechanized infantry battalions each attached to a mechanized infantry Brigade
EE-11 Urutu Armoured personnel carrier 36  Brazil
MRAP
BMC Kirpi MRAP 270 + 44 on order  Turkey Delivered in 2016. Aimed to improve soldier protection against improvised explosive device attacks and ambushes following deadly terrorist attacks against the army. Equipped with remote weapon station and forward-looking infrared radar
Equipping newly established Intervention battalions
Ejder Yalcin MRAP 170  Turkey Delivered in 2017.
Equipping Saharian territory infantry units
BMC Vuran MRAP 50  Turkey
Cobra II MRAP 100  Turkey
ATF Dingo MRAP 80  Germany
ACMAT Bastion MRAP 8  France Delivered in 2016, financed by the United States DoD.
Equipping armored engineer, mine clearance unit
Infantry mobility vehicles
HMMWV Up-Armoured Infantry mobility vehicle 500  United States Delivered in 2016. M1165A1 version.
Equipped with M2 Browning .50cal machine guns
Iveco LMV Infantry mobility vehicle 150  Italy
Technamm Masstech T4 Infantry mobility vehicle 100  France
CSK-131 Infantry mobility vehicle 100  China
LPV Jeep J8 Infantry mobility vehicle 70  United States
 Egypt
Delivered in 2016.
Equipped with M2 Browning .50cal machine guns or Mk 19 grenade launchers
NIMR Infantry mobility vehicle 40  United Arab Emirates Delivered in 2012, probably as aid
Toyota Land Cruiser 76 Infantry mobility vehicle Unknown  Japan Equipped with M2 Broning .50cal machine guns, employed by Saharian territory infantry units
Armoured recovery vehicles
M88A1 Recovery Vehicle Armoured recovery vehicle 6  United States Delivered in 1984, as part of M60A3 Patton deal

Logistic vehicles[edit]

Radar[edit]

  • 2 RASIT DRPT ground surveillance radar (France)
  • 2 AN/TPQ-53 (United States) on order
  • 4-6 Giraffe 40 (Sweden)
  • 4 Medium To long Range Indra Radars (Spain)

Former equipment[edit]

Artillery[edit]

  • 30 Mle 1950 BF-50 155mm towed howitzer (France), delivered in 1960
  • 30 M114A1 155mm towed howitzer (United States), ex-US, delivered in 1965
  • 48 M108 105mm self-propelled howitzer (United States),ex-US, delivered in 1968

Anti-tank equipment[edit]

  • 80 SS.11 ATGM launcher (France)
  • 300 M20 "Super Bazooka" 3.7 inch/94mm Light ATRL (United States)
  • 140 M18 57mm recoilless rifle (United States)

Anti-aircraft equipment[edit]

  • 16 M42 Duster twin-mounted Bofors 40 mm self-propelled AAG (United States/Sweden) 8 delivered in 1968 and 8 delivered in 1972, all second hand; aid

Tanks[edit]

  • 30 AMX-13/75 75mm main gun light tank (France), 15 delivered in 1960 and 15 delivered in 1970
  • 12 M41 Walker Bulldog 76mm main gun light tank (United States), delivered in 1960, second hand
  • 14 M48A5 Patton 90mm main gun main battle tank (United States), delivered in 1973, second hand

Armoured vehicles[edit]

  • 15 EBR-75 armoured car (France), delivered in 1957
  • 10 M8 Greyhound armoured car (United States), delivered in 1960

Reconnaissance[edit]

Planned equipment[edit]

  • Altay - Tunisia wants to modernize its current fleet of main battle tanks and replace its American m-60s and the roadmap signed with Turkey together with its very high performance may be the best option.
  • TGR-300 Kasirga - the Tunisian army is in the process of renewing its armed forces and, as it has rocket launcher artillery systems, Turkey has offered the TGR-300 Kasirga.
  • Dongfeng Mengshi CSK-131 Has been seen in the streets of the capital of tunisia with chinese digital camouflage and tunisian flag, Units are most likely for testing.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Trade Registers". armstrade.sipri.org.