HLR.81140

'' AMX 13 M56 VCI ''

The AMX-VCI (French: Véhicule de Combat d'Infanterie) is one of the many variants of the French AMX-13 light tank. It was the front line APC of the French Army until replaced by the AMX-10P.

Produced to the extent of some 3,000 vehicles from 1957, it was initially produced as the AMX-13 VTT (véhicule de transport de troupe) carrying ten infantrymen and armed with an AA-52 7.5 mm machine gun or 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine gun in an open mounting. In the final versions this had climbed to a turret equipped with a 20mm light autocannon, producing a vehicle that can be seen as an early example of the infantry fighting vehicle.

A total of 30 AMX-VCI were reportedly delivered to the Lebanese Army in May 1983,[1] with a number of them being seized by the pro-Israeli South Lebanon Army (SLA) militia in February 1984 upon the defeat of the Lebanese government forces by Shia Muslim and Druze militias. The captured vehicles were quickly pressed into service by the SLA, who used them until the collapse of the militia in the wake of the Israeli withdrawal of April 2000. VCIs up-armed with US M-46 106mm recoilless rifles were later employed by Lebanese Army General Michel Aoun’s loyalist troops in the battles against his Christian rivals of the Lebanese Forces (LF) at East Beirut in February 1990.

Operators: Argentina, Belgium, Cyprus, Ecuador, France, Indonesia, Lebanon, Mexico, Netherlands, Qatar, Sudan, Venezuela, United Arabic Emirates

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