By Ravi Somaiya
The Toyota Hilux truck is, by many accounts, as ubiquitous to guerrilla warfare as the AK-47. Since the vehicle’s introduction in the late 1960s, this lightweight, virtually indestructible truck has been a favorite of insurgents and rebels (and even U.S. Special Forces) from Somalia to Yemen, Afghanistan to Nicaragua. Why? Because, according to Andrew Exum, a former Army Ranger and a fellow at the Center for a New American Security, it’s so tough that “it kicks the hell out of the Humvee.” Here are images of Toyotas in war zones from the last 30 years. (Toyota was unwilling to confirm that the vehicles in each image are Hiluxes, but the company did say that, though the vehicle may appear under different names, the Hilux is the only lightweight truck it makes.)
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