GIAT AMX VCA

     Notes:  This version of the AMX VCI armored personnel carrier is a support vehicle for the Mk F3 self-propelled howitzer.  As such, it carries ammunition, fuses, and gun crewmembers for the howitzer.  The vehicle normally tows a trailer with further ammunition.  The vehicle has racks for 25 155mm shells, plus 25 charges and 49 fuses, and the gun crewmembers.   Additional crates of ammunition may be carried as cargo.  The AMX VCA has an extra-wide rear door to facilitate off-loading as well as a roller-equipped conveyor strip (which is carried on the outside of the vehicle while moving). The roof hatches are likewise oversized. The AMX VCA retains the small turret of the AMX VCI.  Firing ports are deleted and plated over.  Many AMX VCAs are, in fact, converted AMX VCIs.

     As a variant of the AMX VCI, the AMX VCA retains a number of commonalities with the AMX VCI.  The commander is to the right and rear of the gunner and has his own hatch with vision blocks to the front and right, but no weapon mount.  The AMX VCA has a separate gunner.  The original engine of the AMX VCI was a SOFAM 8Gxb 250-horsepower gasoline engine, with a manual transmission.  In the 1980s, this was replaced by 280-horsepower Baudouin 6F11SRY turbocharged engine and a semiautomatic transmission.  Some export versions had their engine and transmission replaced with one based on the Detroit Diesel 6V-53T 280-horsepower turbocharged engine and an automatic transmission to form a unitary powerpack that is easier to maintain.  (These diesel-powered versions are sometimes referred to as AMX VCI 1987s.) The suspension is unusual in that it the line of the tracks is not level; it is noticeably lower at the rear of the vehicle.  It is based on conventional torsion bars with shock absorbers at the front and rear of the five roadwheels.  Early examples have four return rollers, but later production reduced this to three return rollers.  Most tracks for the AMX VCI are steel, but rubber track pads can be retrofitted.  The AMX VCI is not amphibious, though fording of up to 1 meter is possible.  Note that the collective NBC system of the AMX VCI was not fitted to the AMX VCA, unless the AMX VCA in question is a converted AMX VCI that already had a collective NBC system.

GIAT AMX-10 VOA

     Notes:  This is a FISTV version of the AMX-10P armored personnel carrier.  The turret is removed and replaced with one mounting enhanced observation equipment (including enhanced night vision and telescopic day vision), a laser designator, and a machinegun.  The vehicle also features a defense system similar to that mounted on the US M-1A2P31 tank, with a laser jamming system (laser-guided weapons are one level harder to hit the vehicle with) and an IR system jammer (fire-and forget missiles are one level harder to hit with, and the vehicle is one level harder to see with IR vision devices).  The turret is also equipped with a laser rangefinder that can be slaved to the machinegun if necessary, but is primarily used to find ranges to targets. The AMX-10 VOA is normally equipped with no less than 4 radios: two long-range data-capable radios and two short-range radios.  The AMX VOA’s rear is taken up with the radios and a computerized fire solution and targeting system, which takes information from the vision devices and laser rangefinder and computes fire solutions, then passes it on to artillery or mortar batteries in digital form to their fire control computers (if they are so equipped), or shows the fire solution to allow the operator to transmit the fire coordinates via radio.  The AMX-10 VOA initially used an inertial navigation system; later upgrades gave it a GPS system.  The crew has a collective NBC system, but the AMX-10 VOA does not have radiation shielding.

     Being a variant of the AMX-10P, it has a number of features in common with that vehicle. Layout is basically conventional, with a driver’s hatch on the front right that has three vision blocks to the front, the center of which can be replaced by a night vision block.  The engine is to the left of the driver, and the engine and transmission form a complete power pack.  Main entrance to the rear compartment is by a power-operated ramp, which also has a pair of doors in it.  Firing ports are deleted and plated over.  The side vision blocks and periscopes are likewise deleted.  The locking points on the deck for a Milan ATGM launcher are also deleted, though the overhead hatches remain. Power is provided by a Hispano-Suiza HS-115 supercharged diesel engine providing 280 horsepower, coupled to a semiautomatic transmission.  The suspension is of the torsion-bar type, with three track return rollers and five roadwheels.  The first and last roadwheel on each side have shock absorbers.  The steel tracks have replaceable rubber tracks.  The AMX-10 VOA is amphibious with little preparation; a trim vane must be erected at the front, a bilge pump switched on, and waterjets for propulsion turned on. The AMX-10 VOA can take the appliqué armor of the upgraded AMX-10P.

*Belly armor is 3.

**The laser rangefinder and laser designator share duties – one cannot range-find for the gun, range-find for targets, and/or designate targets at the same time.  Backup fire control for the machinegun is at +1.