Technical Ranking Thread. Rather than a numerical score, I'm just gonna rank by function. Because all technicals are beautiful and deserve love.

Technical Type 1: The Gun Truck. The work horse of any mobile raid force, generally upgunned with an GPMG to HMG or similar. https://twitter.com/adacable/status/1253300383872618496

armament like this Mk19 automatic grenade launcher. It's range is roughly that of the infantry it is supporting. Needs a crew of two (driver, gunner) and can carry an additional fireteam reinforced of dismounts plus fuel, ammo, and sustainment. Several of these vehicles paired

unarmed pickups can provide a platoon worth of fast moving troops with their own organic support by fire positions by parking at an offset& supporting the raid force, or participate directly in the assault, bringing heavier firepower to bear than could (easily) be brought on foot

Technical Type 2: The Support By Fire Technical. Generally constrained by the weight, slower acquisition, ammo capacity/reloads, and the inability to fire in 360, this is the vehicle you park at a distance to provide covering fire for advancing forces, or add a dash of fuck-you

to your defense. Typically employing AA cannons in ground mounts bolted to the bed, they need an alert driver to move the truck when the angle of attack is greater than they can traverse. When firing from any direction other than straight back, they will rock the suspension and

everything after the first burst will be wildly off target. Limited capacity to depress to the barrel to fire at lower targets. Can easily be used to shred other lightly armored or unarmored vehicles. Retains it's AA capacity, albeit less stable/accurate.

Technical Type 3: The Anti-Armor/Bunker Buster.

A variety of munitions can fill this role from the more ubiquitous recoilless rifles (most often SPG-9 and M40) to the more rarely seen technical based ATGM. African variants will often cut off the cab for 360 coverage. Proving

their utility (and perhaps birthing the modern technical) in Chad/Libya conflicts, modern Soviet tanks of the era were routinely bested by rebels in much faster pickups with AT rounds loaded in recoilless rifles. Oddly enough, rarely seen with ATGM systems. This vehicle is both

suited to its anti-armor role, with it's high speed, low signature, and low profile, as well as for hitting strongpoints, encampments, or supply trains, with the ability to rapidly egress for either reloading or simply to E&E.

Technical Type 4: The BMP-1 Unarmored Fighting Vehicle.

Necessity is the mother of invention. If you have a captured BMP-1 but it's damaged or needs repair, but you still have a working Grom cannon, you can either a) discard it, b) make it a bunker or c) make a fucking technical

The low velocity cannon of the BMP-1 fires essentially the same 73mm round as the SPG-9, using a different booster. This class of vehicle essentially fulfills the same role as the AT/Bunker Buster, but is worthy of inclusion because it illustrates that weapons can remain lethal

even when we would discard them in professional armies (and why you need to actively destroy damaged weapons so they don't get repurposed). ISIS had a standardized (semi-armored) pattern for their BMP Technicals.

Technical Type 5: The Indirect Fire Technical.

If you thought the inaccuracy of Soviet origin multi-rocket launchers was still too accurate, just wait- you can add them to an unstabilized truck for even worse accuracy!

This class of technical is enormously popular, even with

state militaries (or their paramilitary counterparts) like Syria and Iraq's. Essentially surrendering the one thing that gave any semblance of repeatable accuracy (the ground, and stabilizing legs or anchors) anything from air-to-ground rocket pods to 107/128mm multi-cell short

artillery rocket, to multi-cell 122mm Grad rockets or the enormous Improvised Rocket Assisted Munition (slash mortar). When area bombardment is that's necessary or desired, these will fit the goal. Occasionally stabilizing legs are welded onto the technical which allows for more

repeatable hits, but surrenders the ability to rapidly egress. But if all you want to do is put-the-fuck on a large area prior to your ground assault, well, this will put-the-fuck on a large area well enough.

Technical Type 6: The Tanknical.

Same concept as the BMP Technical but with both greater ability and heavier limitations. The extremely heavy turret or even just main gun from a tank requires a heavier platform to mount it on. If mounted too low, it will have the same inability

to traverse and require an attentive driver. Because of the slow rate of fire the lack of stabilization is not really an issue. This brand of techincal can fulfill most of the same roles a tank in defilade can: attacking enemy armor (and hastily egressing), shattering enemy

strongpoints, or functioning as a low elevation artillery piece. In many ways the Tanknical and the Arty Technical are essentially the same, each largely employing their heavy barreled cannons against ground targets reserving the ability to function as artillery.

Technical Type 7: The Arty Technical.

This category bleeds into actual state armories. Numerous nations worldwide employ truck based artillery (notably France's CAESAR system) and the concept is very sound. Take a cannon, mount it to a heavy truck. Add stabilizing legs, space

for ammo, tools, and crew and you have the functionality of an armored self-propelled gun, but cheaper, lighterweight, and easier to move without a heavy equipment trailer. The SAA has a standardized variant they've been using for years, albeit improvised. Numerous rebel groups

have built their own, as well with notable examples like the Ansar al-Tawheed variant above with a rear scoop style anchor, and the Daraa based "Omar" cannon, an improvised hell cannon on a pneumatic assembly to absorb recoil.

Anyway, there are literally thousands of pictures &

examples of technicals all over the web and while we like to mock and laugh at how absurd they are, the reality is that a) we (and our state enemies) regularly use them, either literally like the Russian adoption of actual pickup based gun-trucks or US SOF ad hoc usage, or by

formally producing an equivalent: a HMMWV without armor and a machine gun is nothing more than a formally produced technical. The supply trucks crammed with machine guns in Vietnam for convoy duty were just technicals. Tossing an M240 on a dune buggy for Marines? Technical. The

reality is that despite our propensity to ARMOR-ALL-THE-THINGS, sometimes lightweight, fast moving, heavily armed pickup trucks will fuck shit up just as well if not better than their slow moving but well protected brothers. The technical doesn't exist because third world

militants enjoy dying or are somehow disdainful of armor use. It exists because it WORKS and because it's something that can be rapidly assembled and put to use. We adopt them for the same reason.

Technicals look gnarly as fuck. But fuck if they don't work well.

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