Ratmobile


 * ''Not to be confused with batmobile.

A Ratmobile, also Technical is the favorite means of transportation for Islamist fighters, spotted en masse at least since the 2011 western-supported campaign to get rid of Libya's independent government. But already in 1987 a conflict between Chad and Libya has been dubbed the "Toyota War" thanks to the achievements of the Chadian army utilizing ratmobiles of that brand. Recently they have been introduced to Ukraine by the pro-Maidan forces. Often ratmobiles are a gift from wealthy foreign donors.

Ratmobiles consist of a light flatbed truck, often Toyota, with mounted more or less heavy weapons -  the 12.7mm Soviet-era heavy machine gun nicknamed Dushka ("Sweetie" in Russian) being the most common choice. Typically manned by 6-8 young men in black clothes longing for the 7th century and engaging in feverish allahuakbarking.

The modern ratmobile has its origins in the tachanka, a horse-drawn platform mounting a heavy machine gun, invented by Ukrainian revolutionary Nestor Makhno, who gave his name to Makhnovshchina – a state of violent anarchistic chaos.

The first vehicle carrying weapons, the Ur-mobile, was manufactured in Ur, south of Baghdad, Iraq, around 2500 b.c. Around 1884 c.e., Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim invented the machine gun. The ratmobile combines the two into a highly mobile platform of terror.

According to recent leaks, the Russian military-industrial complex is working on Nanoratmobiles. Iranian ratmobiles have recently been seen armed with intercontinental ballistic missiles.

An armored ratmobile is called a shushpantser.