M-35 / M-35A1 “gun truck”

The birth of the “gun truck” had its origin in 1967 during the Vietnam War, with the need to protect the convoys that supplied the American garrisons distributed all over South Vietnam. It was in this year when it was decided to armour 6×6 2.5 ton Reo M-35 trucks due to the absence of armored vehicles to escort the valuable supply convoys. The cabin, the sides and the rear of the trucks were reinforced with steel plates and the lower part was also reinforced to protect them against mines. Different types of defensive weapons were mounted, such as 7.62 and 12.7mm machine guns, M79 grenade launchers or Gatling machine guns known as “Miniguns”. This last type was composed by six 7.62mm rotatory barrels, with a terrifying firing rate of 6,000 rounds per minute !!. In addition to these gun truck models, a more powerful variant designated as M-35A1 was built, which had a M55 assembly composed by four 12.7mm M2 machine guns.

M-35/35A1 gallery and more info