VPremium

AMX 13 (FL 11)

France·Light Tank

Despite demands to send the new AMX-13 tank to Indochina, it was not well-suited to that theater of operations: Its turret and gun were too large, while its autoloader was expensive, difficult to maintain, and virtually useless—the enemy had almost no armored vehicles. Moreover, what was needed was a lighter tank that could be transported by air. As a result, the AMX-13 was equipped with the FL-11 turret from the Panhard EBR armored vehicle without an autoloader gun. The lack of autoloader allowed for the use of a more varied range of ammunition to support infantry units. A total of 20 vehicles were ordered, but only five were actually produced. After the end of hostilities in Vietnam in 1954, the remaining tanks were redeployed to Morocco, where they saw out their combat career.