Russia scales up "jihad-mobile" production for assault operations in Ukraine

Footage appeared online, showing Russia scaling up the production of improvised assault vehicles, also known as "jihad-mobiles," with one of them based on the GAZ-66, Defense Express reports.

Earlier, there were instances when Russian forces attempted to storm Ukrainian positions using only unarmed trucks like the Ural, which also lacked any armament, not to mention the "golf carts." So, at first glance, there is nothing particularly new in this "jihad-mobile" story regarding Russian military actions, the military analysts note.

"From another perspective, it is worth focusing on the fact that the Russians are scaling up the production of assault vehicles, even if it is on a private initiative level. This immediately raises the assumption that China may have reduced the supply of Desertcross 1000 golf carts to the Russian military. Or amid high losses, Russian occupying forces have faced such a shortage of armored vehicles that now even a GAZ-66-based vehicle has become an acceptable assault vehicle," Defense Express says.

When it comes to the losses in Russian equipment and weaponry during the war against Ukraine, initial data from the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces indicates that the Russian army has already lost 9,710 tanks and 20,189 armored vehicles of various types.

According to The Military Balance 2022, prior to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian army had nearly 3,000 tanks and 11,000 armored vehicles. The 2024 edition of The Military Balance recorded that at the beginning of the previous year, Russia had 1,750 tanks and 9,000 armored vehicles.

This comparison gives insight into the fact that when the Russians are reactivating equipment from storage or "preserving" armored vehicles for assault operations, they might be driven not only by their current needs in the war against Ukraine.

There could also be the logic of building up resources for a future "big war" against NATO, for which they need to "save" those armored vehicles, replacing them with the makeshift "jihad-mobiles" based on GAZ-66.