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The Nathan Koets T-62 Tank Rug

Nathan Koets sent me a link to a new acquisition of his and we decided to share the discussion in hopes of gaining new comments and insights.

T-64 MBT

Most of the pictures available are of the captured T-62 that we bought from the Israelis after the 1973 war. Consequently we rarely see the top gun in pictures. So since the silhouette is similar and this shows the top gun forgive me for showing a T-64.

How do I come to the conclusion that the image on the rug is a T62 Main Battle Tan? Frankly part of it is an educated guess. I have spent a good bit of time researching what the Soviet order of battle was in Afghanistan. You cannot just grab Jane's Soviet Weapons & Tactics and easily identify each motif on a rug. I use a wide range of sources and then I can get an idea of what the weaver may have had in mind.

The big clue is the gun mounted on top. When I compared the image on the rug to what was indicated in the Soviet order of battle I became convinced that this must be a T-62.

The gun on top is a remote controlled 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine gun. My first thought was that it was the T-64 but that was sent to the European front during the Afghan war. The T-62 was assigned to Asia. The 70th Motorized Riffle Brigade stationed in Kandahar in the early 1980s had 40 T-62s.Isby, Bayonets

Obviously the Afghan rebels had no tanks so the main gun which was a 125 mm smooth bore was rarely used. However the Russians did use these tanks extensively and the 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine gun was the main weapon. For the civilized readers who have not fallen under the evil sway of the Metric system 12.7 mm is 82 caliber. So since many of you will remember the US 50 caliber machine gun you can imagine the affect of an 82 caliber machine gun.

When I look at a tank the main cannon is obviously the focal point of interest for me but in Afghanistan the cannon is not an important weapon so the focal point for a weaver was the remote control machine gun because that was the part that killed her family and friends and destroyed her village.

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