Unconventional or " off label " use of modern [ post 1945] weapons

Khanzeer

Banned
Who needs a motor?
2AB22CF400000578-3168287-image-a-20_1437405803845.jpg
And I thought my kid abused shopping carts
 
Serbian use of AA missiles in late 1990s, with or without boosters, comes to mind. Mostly with boosters, installed on Praga V3S armored cars where previously were two 30mm AA guns. Two of AA-8 or one AA-11 on each truck. link (scroll down to the thumbnails and click on thumbnails). Better pic of the twin rocket set-up: link; 1-rocket: link.
Also Serbian use of SA-2 as ground attack wepon (warhead of almost 200 kg + toxic fuel will do some damage), then the rocket launchers from aircraft installed in pairs on trucks to act as a MLRS. Use of AA guns as infantry killers was widespread, too.
Installation of the 30mm AA gun from a truck to the river boat (in front of the bridge).
Cuban installation of AA guns and missiles on self-propelled platforms is widely known.

The most unusual use of land-based artillery in 21st century is probably the attempt to shoot down, or at least harras combat aircraft: link.
 

Glyndwr01

Banned
http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/gb/Sherman-Tulip.php

th

During WW2, men of the Canadian 12th Manitoba Dragoons, part of the 18th Armoured Car Regiment, were looking for a way to increase the firepower on their American built Staghound Armored Cars. They were only armed with a 37 mm (1.46 in) anti-tank gun. The Dragoons’ job on the battlefield was reconnaissance and to call in artillery support. If they ran into enemy opposition they needed a more powerful weapon to help them get out of trouble and get back to the safety of their own lines.

On 19th November 1944, four Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Rocket Launcher Rails Mk1 were attached to the turret of an HQ Company Staghound, two on each side. They were loaded with 60 lb RP-3 (Rocket Projectile 3-inch) air to ground aircraft rockets that were normally fitted to planes like the Hawker Typhoon, Hurricane, Republican Thunderbolt, Mosquito, Liberator, Swordfish, Fairey Firefly and Beaufort.

Lieutenant Robert Boscawen, from the British 1st Armoured Battalion, Coldstream Guards, 5th Guards Armoured Brigade, Guards Armoured Division and his friend Captain Dermot Musker, were the first to add the 60lb rocket firing capability to a Sherman tank. The Rocket Launcher Rails Mk.I and RP-3 (Rocket Projectile 3-inch) rockets were obtained from an RAF Typhoon aerodrome near Nijmegen. Captain Musker had heard that the Canadians had fitted some Typhoon rockets to a tank as an experiment but had never developed the idea.

The first Sherman tank was equipped with the two rockets on Friday 16th March 1945. Lt Boscawen welded rocket launching rails on his tank on the following day and conducted a successful test firing. The decision was then made to arm the whole squadron and later the battalion with rockets.
 

Khanzeer

Banned
Serbian use of AA missiles in late 1990s, with or without boosters, comes to mind. Mostly with boosters, installed on Praga V3S armored cars where previously were two 30mm AA guns. Two of AA-8 or one AA-11 on each truck. link (scroll down to the thumbnails and click on thumbnails). Better pic of the twin rocket set-up: link; 1-rocket: link.
Also Serbian use of SA-2 as ground attack wepon (warhead of almost 200 kg + toxic fuel will do some damage), then the rocket launchers from aircraft installed in pairs on trucks to act as a MLRS. Use of AA guns as infantry killers was widespread, too.
Installation of the 30mm AA gun from a truck to the river boat (in front of the bridge).
Cuban installation of AA guns and missiles on self-propelled platforms is widely known.

The most unusual use of land-based artillery in 21st century is probably the attempt to shoot down, or at least harras combat aircraft: link.
Thanks for the links
Do you know if the short range of R60 Was an issue in the SAM role
 
Thanks , Yugoslavs are such smart enterprising people
Wish we had more of them on this side of the Atlantic

Nope, we (Suthern Slavs that are still here) are not that smart. Really smart and/or hard working and/or enterprising are at other corners of the world.
 

Khanzeer

Banned
Nope, we (Suthern Slavs that are still here) are not that smart. Really smart and/or hard working and/or enterprising are at other corners of the world.
Why did the Serbs and croats make such improvised SAM mounts , if I remember correctly they had a decent amount of conventional SAM and MANPADS ?
 
Why did the Serbs and croats make such improvised SAM mounts , if I remember correctly they had a decent amount of conventional SAM and MANPADS ?

I'm guessing they felt they needed everything they could get their hands on, considering the opposition...
 
Why did the Serbs and croats make such improvised SAM mounts , if I remember correctly they had a decent amount of conventional SAM and MANPADS ?

Croats didn't make a lot of improvised SAM mounts - we didn't have anything bigger than Strela MANPADS and Strela 1 and 10 SP SAMs. Plus, from 1996, we were not in the need.
Serbs were in other position, since they got hold of most of war stocks of AA-8s and especially of AA-11s (= how). Bosnian Serbs were also on the receiveing end of the short NATO air campaign, while relations between Serbia and NATO were going from bad to worse due to the Kosovo question (= why). Since the big land-based radar-guides SAMs of Soviet production were easily defeated during the Desert Storm, Serbs went to something much more mobile and elusive, yet more powerful than the Strelas. Just a small number was deployed during the NATO intervention, and I'm not sure of any confirmed kills.
 

Khanzeer

Banned
Can you guys think of off label use of weapons which might not have occurred in OTL
Some of my fav ones are

1- multirole variant of Su15TM exported to countries not cleared to recieve the latest Soviet hardware in the 70s and 80s

2 - MOdify yankee class subs by removing their SLBM and adding more torpedo capacity and using them as SSN in 1980s

3- using naval SAM esp M11shtrom as a antiship missile ? Decent warhead and later versions the range is not too bad

4 Antiradar missiles like kh22 [ of strategic aviation bombers ] can they be used as antiship weapons ? If they are programmed to home in on the radition of the ship based radars

Feel free to comment if you think they were plausible or not ?
 
The Handley Page Victor strategic bomber spent most of its career doing something it wasn't designed to do.

A12009.1.jpg


Rather than doing this.

 
The aerial tanker role is something that any number of obsolescing bombers have been stuck with over the decades...almost de rigueur.
 
Top