To Hunt and Kill The Beast

Tiran 5 plays the part of a
Soviet T-62 in Afghanistan                      The Beast" (1988)

You will most likely find the 1988 movie "The Beast" in the bargain DVD bin of your local big box retailer.  The film garnished no Hollywood honors, but it has become a cult classic in the armor community. "Beast" begins when 4 Soviet tankers and an Afghan government soldier take a wrong turn in their tank after attacking and leveling an Afghan village.  Lost in a dead end valley, the tank and its crew are relentless hunted by revenge seeking locals and ambitious but amateur mujahadeen.

 The Soviet T-62 tanks called out in the original William Mastrosimone stage play are represented on film by four Israeli Tiran 5 tanks, called in the West Ti-67s. The Tiran 5 is the Israeli name given to T-55s captured from Arab armies in the 1967 and 1973 wars and rebuilt for IDF service.  The Israelis extensively modified these vehicles, refitting them with a NATO standard L7 105 mm main gun and a new diesel engine. All the Tirans were phased out of IDF service in the1980s, but remained in service with their SLA Allies in South Lebonon until the IDF pullout in 2000.

Moustafa El-Assad's book "Blue Steel" is the best available reference on the Tiran 5.

Comments

[Moustafa Assad]

Thanks for the mention.. i hope you liked Blue Steel II and Landing Zone Lebanon.... cheers from Beirut, Lebanon