Panhard VBL

The Panhard VBL (Véhicule Blindé Léger) is a light 4x4 armoured scout car built by Panhard for the French Army and for export. In 1978 the army asked for a vehicle of under 3,500 kg for anti-tank work with the MILAN missile and for reconnaissance. Panhard and Renault each built three prototypes for trials in 1983, and in February 1985 the Panhard design was chosen. Fifteen pre-production vehicles followed in 1988, and the first production vehicle was completed in late 1990. By December 1995 the French Army had ordered 922. Export customers named in the archive include Oman, Indonesia, Kuwait and Gabon, and French VBLs served in the former Yugoslavia.

Design

The all-welded steel hull, 5 to 11 mm thick, has the engine at the front and the crew behind it. Proven commercial parts were used where possible: the Peugeot XD3T turbo diesel, also used in Peugeot cars and the P4 light vehicle, gives 95 hp through a ZF automatic gearbox. Michelin run-flat tyres and central tyre-pressure regulation are standard. The VBL is fully amphibious after two minutes' preparation, which consists of raising a trim vane by hand. It is driven in the water by a single propeller under the rear of the hull; for export the amphibious kit is optional.

The standard car is 3.87 m long and 2.02 m wide on a 2.45 m wheelbase and weighs 3,590 kg in combat order. It reaches 95 km/h on the road and 4.5 km/h in the water, with a range of 600 km.

Variants

The French Army uses a three-crew combat version with a 7.62 mm machine gun and MILAN, and a two-crew intelligence version with a 7.62 or 12.7 mm gun. Panhard proposed more than 20 other versions, including command, air-defence (Mistral), HOT and TOW anti-tank, radar, electronic-warfare and internal-security models. A long-wheelbase model with a 2.7 m wheelbase and up to four crew was adopted by Oman with TOW missiles.