The Berliet VXB-170 is a four-wheel armoured vehicle used primarily as an internal security vehicle. Developed and initially produced by Berliet until Berliet was merged with Saviem to form Renault Trucks (now Arquus),[1] it lost to the Saviem VAB the competition to equip the French Army, even though it was cheaper than its competitor. Production stopped after fewer than 200 vehicles had been produced.
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VXB-170 | |
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![]() A French Gendarmerie VXB | |
Type | Armoured personnel carrier |
Place of origin | France |
Service history | |
In service | 1973 – present |
Used by | France, Gabon, Senegal |
Production history | |
Manufacturer | Berliet |
Specifications | |
Mass | 12.7 tonnes (12.5 long tons) |
Length | 5.99 m (19 ft 8 in) |
Width | 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) |
Height | 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) |
Crew | 3 |
Passengers | 6 to 8 troops |
Armor | 7 mm |
Main armament | 1 × 7.62 mm machine gun |
Secondary armament | 56 mm grenade launcher |
Engine | Berliet V800M 8-cylinder diesel engine 170 hp (130 kW) |
Power/weight | 23 hp/t |
Suspension | wheeled |
Operational range | 750 km (470 mi) |
Maximum speed | 85 km/h (53 mph) |
Its main user, the French National Gendarmerie, calls it Véhicule blindé à roues de la Gendarmerie ("Gendarmerie wheeled armoured vehicle") or VBRG.
Designed in the late 1960s under a project[citation needed] maximizing the use of heavy truck components of the Berliet brand in combat vehicles, the VXB 170 (for 170 cv[2]) entered production at the Berliet Bourg-en-Bresse plant.
It was selected in 1972 by the French Gendarmerie but it lost out to the Saviem VAB the competition for equipment of the French Army and, following the merger of Berliet and Saviem under the Renault brand in 1974, became redundant in the brand product offering so production was stopped soon after the Gendarmerie order was complete
There were originally three versions :
The VXB was available with hydrojets but this option was never exercised.
Modern French armoured fighting vehicles | |
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Tanks and armoured cars | |
Armoured cars | |
Armoured personnel carriers |
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Artillery |
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Experimental vehicles | |
Armoured fighting vehicles of France |
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