AMX-VCI

AMX-13 VCI
AMX-13 VTT
Type	Armoured personnel carrier
Place of origin	France
Specifications
Weight	15.0 tonnes
Length	5.7 m
Width	2.67 m
Height	2.41m
Crew	3 + 10 passengers
Armor	10-40mm
Main armament	turret mounted 20mm cannon
Secondary armament	12.7 mm machine gun or 7.5 mm machine gun small turrent
Engine	SOFAM Model 8Gxb 8-cyl. water-cooled petrol
Power/weight	16.7/tonne
Suspension	Torsion-bar
Operational range	350 km
Speed	60 km/h

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. It is still used by some countries, for example Mexico, where it goes under the name of DNC-1 and is armed with a 20mm cannon.

Beginning in 1957, some 3,000 vehicles were produced. It was initially produced as the AMX-13 VTT (véhicule de transport de troupe), which carried ten infantrymen and was armed with either an AA-52 7.5 mm machine gun or a 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine gun in an open mounting. The final versions had a turret equipped with a 20mm light , producing a vehicle that can be seen as an early example of the infantry fighting vehicle.

The AMX-13 VCI itself was the basis for a number of variants:

A total of 30 AMX-VCI were reportedly delivered to the Lebanese Army in May 1983, with a number of them being seized by the pro-Israeli South Lebanon Army (SLA) militia in February 1984 after 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 M40 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) militia at East Beirut in February 1990.