A French soldier, assigned to the Operation Mentor Liaison Team, conducts communication checks, with rest of his team, prior to departing an Afghanistan National Police station, in Logar province, Afghanistan, Aug. 19, 2009. (U.S. Army photo by Pvt. 1st Class Richard W. Jones Jr./Released)
France will send “significant quantities” of VAB armored personnel carriers (APCs) to Ukraine, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu revealed in an interview with Le Parisien on June 28.
Lecornu said that the vehicles will be of use to Kiev forces against the Russian military, that launched a special operation in Ukraine more than four months ago.
“To move quickly in areas under enemy fire, armies need armored vehicles. … France will therefore deliver significant quantities of VAB vehicles, equipped with weapons,” the minister told the French daily.
The VAB, or Véhicule de l’Avant Blindé [Armoured Forward Vehicle], is a wheeled armored vehicle that was developed by the French company Panhard and Saviem/Renault Group in 4×4 and 6×6 configurations between 1972 and 1973.
The most common model used by the French Army is the 4X4 VAB VTT, or Véhicule Transport de Troupe [Armored Personnel Carrier], which has a crew of three including a commander, gunner and driver and carries ten fully equipped soldiers.
The VAB is powered by a Renault MIDS 06-20-45 in-line water-cooled turbocharged six-cylinder diesel developing 220 bhp at 2,200 rpm. It has a maximum road speed of 92 kilometers per hour with a maximum cruising range of 1,000 kilometers. The all-welded steel hull of the vehicle provides the crew with protection from small arms fire and shell splinters.
The French military is currently replacing its ageing VAB APCs with the Griffon, a new generation of 6×6 armored vehicles. Due to this, supplying the old vehicles to Ukraine can be done without any real problems.
In fact, it appears that France is already shipping VAB APCs to Ukraine. Four days before Lecornu’s statement, a large convoy of the French APCs was spotted in Slovakia, moving toward Ukraine.
It’s worth noting that Lecornu also confirmed to La Parisien France will be sending to Ukraine six CAESAR self-propelled 155 mm howitzers in addition to the 12 that have already been transferred to the Kiev forces.
Manufactured by the partly state-owned arms maker Nexter Systems, the CAESAR is a 155mm 52-caliber howitzer mounted on a six-wheeled truck chassis. The howitzer can fire up to six rounds per minute and has a firing range of around 42 kilometers using ERFB [extended range, full bore] shells, and up to 55 kilometers using rocket assisted shells.
France hopes that its military support to Kiev forces will prolong the conflict in Ukraine, thus deplete the Russian military and force Moscow to accept a defeat. However, the situation on the ground appears to be only getting worse for Kiev forces.
