VAB HOT Mephisto anti-tank missile launcher 4x4 armored vehicle

: 21 January 2022

VAB HOT Mephisto anti-tank missile launcher 4x4 armoured vehicle

Description

Technical Data

Specifications

Details view

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Description

The VAB HOT Mephisto is a wheeled armoured vehicle personnel carrier VAB fitted with anti-tank missile launcher turret. It uses the same chassis of the Renault Trucks Defense VAB 4x4 armoured personnel carrier. The launcher missile system mounted on the top of the vehicle was integrated by the French Company Euromissile. The latest upgraded version of the vehicle is armed with the HOT 3 missile.

Variant VAB:

- VAB VTT: 4x4 APC version, crew of two and ten passengers
- VAB T-20/13: VAB equipped with a turret mounted 20 mm gun recovered from old AMX-13 VCIs and refurbished and intended for fire support and for counter sniping
- VIB: IFV version fitted with the Toucan system, a tele-operated turret fitted with a 20 mm cannon and a AA52 7.62 mm machine-gun. Used by the French Air Force for airfield defence.[12]
- VAB VOA: Artillery observation vehicle
- VAB RATAC: Radar Artillery target acquisition vehicle, carries a doppler radar with a range of 20 km
- VAB RASIT: Reconnaissance vehicle, carries the RASIT ground surveillance radar
- VAB PC: Command vehicle
- VAB SIR: Digital regimental C4ISTAR information system
- VAB Bromure: Electronic warfare vehicle
- VAB Echelon: Maintenance and repair vehicle
- VAB Génie: Engineering vehicle
- VCAC Mephisto: Anti-tank vehicle, carries the Euromissile Mephisto system with four ready-to-fire HOT anti-tank missiles and eight more in reserve
- VTM 120: Mortar towing vehicle, can carry 70 bombs for the Thomson-Brandt 120mm mortar
- VPM 81: Mortar carrier with an 81mm mortar firing through a roof opening
- VAB SAN: Armoured ambulance
- VAB Reco: NBC reconnaissance vehicle
- VAB ATLAS: Artillery fire command and control vehicle
- VAB AZURE: Urban warfare vehicle equipped with a dozer blade and with panoramic periscopes to observe and monitor.
- VBC-90: Armoured car variant in service with the Mobile Gendarmerie
- VAB TOP: 4x4 APC version fitted with a Kongsberg Protector M151 RWS with 12.7mm machine gun and ceramic addon armour

Technical Data

Armament

The VAB HOT is fitted with the elevator launcher station Mephisto mounted on a turret located on the top centre of the hull. The turret is powered and can be traversed through a full 360º with elevation from -10 to +10º. In travel position, the launcher station is retracted flush with the roof of the VAB and raised in firing position. Four missiles are ready to fire and eight HOT missiles are carried in reserve in two four-round magazines inside the vehicle. The HOT ATGW (Anti-Tank Guided Weapon) missile has a maximum range of 4,000 m and a minimum range of 75 m. Today, all the VAB HOT of the French Army are armed with the HOT-3 missile which has a 6.48 kg tandem HEAT (High-Explosive Anti-Tank) warhead and can penetrate 1,250mm of armor. The HOT missile is tube-launched and optically tracked using the SACLOS (Semi-Automatic Command to Line Of Sight) guidance system. In SACLOS, the operator has to continually point a sighting device at the target while the missile is in flight. A 7.62mm machine gun is mounted on a rotating gun mount with a shield at the front. The machine gun has an elevation of -15 to +45º and can rotate on 360°. A bank of four smoke grenade dischargers is mounted at the rear on each side of the hull.

Design and Protection

The all-welded steel hull of the VAB HOT Mephisto provides the crew with protection from small arms fire and shell splinters. The driver sits at the front of the vehicle on the left with the commander to his right. The gunner and the loader for the HOT missiles are located at the rear part of the hull. Over the driver's position is a single-piece hatch cover that opens to the front and a similar hatch is mounted over the commander's position. A double door is available at the rear of the vehicle. Both crew members have a side door that opens to the front, with a bulletproof window in its upper part hinged at the top and opening outwards that can be covered by a shutter. In front of the crew is a heated bulletproof windscreen that can be covered by a flap hinged at the top.

Propulsion

The VAB HOT Mephisto is motorized with a Renault MIDS 06-20-45 in-line water-cooled turbocharged 6-cylinder diesel engine developing 220 hp. at 2,200 rpm. The engine compartment is immediately behind the driver with the air inlet and outlet louvers in the roof and the exhaust pipe running along the top of the hull on the right side. The vehicle uses a 4x4 chassis. The wheels are independently suspended by torsion bars and hydraulic shock-absorbers. The VAB HOT Mephisto can run at a maximum road speed of 90 km/h with a maximum cruising range of 1,000 km. The vehicle can negotiate a gradient of 50% and side slopes of 35%. It can climb a vertical obstacle of 0.5m and cross a trench of 1m.

Accessories

The gunner is provided with a Giat M590 gyrostabilised mirror-type sight with day magnifications of ×3 and ×12 and if required this can be raised independently of the launcher module. The VAB HOT Mephisto is equipped with a MEPHIRA camera which allows the gunner to fire during the night at a maximum range of 2,500m. A remotely controlled tyre inflation/deflation device is available as an option on the VAB family. Standard equipment of the VAB HOT Mephisto includes NBC protection system, air conditioning and night vision. A self-recovery winch with a capacity of 7,000 kg and 60m of cable is mounted at the front of the hull. The VAB HOT Mephisto is fully amphibious, being propelled in the water by two water-jets mounted at the rear of the hull, each fitted with a deflector for steering and reverse thrust, which is hydraulically controlled by a joystick mounted on the dashboard.

Specifications