France to supply Ukraine with wheeled tanks and armored personnel carriers

France will send Ukraine AMX-10 RC wheeled tanks and Bastion armored personnel carriers.

Le Figaro reported about this, citing a conversation between two presidents: Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

“These are the first Western-made tanks to be transferred to Ukraine,” the French President assured. The time of delivery of new weapons is not reported by representatives of France.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy later confirmed the shipment of additional armored vehicles on his official Twitter account.

Провів тривалу й детальну розмову з Президентом Франції @EmmanuelMacron щодо поточної ситуації. Подякував за рішення передати Україні легкі танки та Bastion, а також за активізацію роботи з партнерами в цьому ж напрямку. 1/2

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 4, 2023

Earlier, Militarny announced France’s intention to transfer Bastion armored personnel carriers to Ukraine. Then it was about providing 20 armored vehicles.

AMX-10 RC

AMX-10 RC is a French armored fighting vehicle manufactured by GIAT armed with a 105mm rifled tank gun.

Due to their wheelbases, these vehicles have high mobility. AMX-10 can be used for both reconnaissance and infantry fire support during combat.

AMX-10 RC wheeled tanks have been in service with France since 1981 and have participated in numerous combat operations in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and the Sahel.

In general, the French army is armed with 247 AMX-10 wheeled tanks. It is known that the French Ministry of Defense has the intention to completely replace the fleet of these armored vehicles with more modern Jaguar wheeled tanks, which are already beginning to enter certain units.

AMX-10 RC has a 6×6 wheel arrangement and is equipped with a hydropneumatic suspension system with variable ground clearance and inclination, due to which it can effectively hide in the terrain.

The armored vehicle is armed with a 105mm 105/47 F2 MECA rifled tank gun, capable of firing at a range of up to 2000 meters. The ammunition of the gun includes its own ammunition of caliber 105×527R among which are APFSDS, HEAT-FS and high-explosive. The gun is able to fight heavy armored vehicles manufactured by the USSR.

In addition to the gun, the armored vehicle is armed with two 7.62 mm machine guns.

The AMX-10 RC has a frontal armour resistant against 23 mm API from 300 m and 14.5 mm AP all-around with add-on armor made of aluminum with additional steel screens of high hardness. The weight of the wheeled tank is 20 tons, which is two tons lighter than the Ukrainian BTR-4 armored personnel carrier.