Peruvian Alacrán program combines French AMX-13 tank with Russian Kornet missiles.

Latin American countries are known for their significant fleets of obsolete armored vehicles. For example, the Peruvian army is equipped with 96 AMX-13 tanks, originally developed in France in the late 1940s. Lima began acquiring these tanks in 1954, and they have remained in service ever since. Recently, Peru has sought to equip its tanks with anti-tank guided missiles to transform them into tank killers, as they put it.
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the program planned to convert 24 french AMX-13 tanks into ATGM carriers equipped with Kornet-E (Picture source: Wikimedia)

The initial armament of these forces included the 14.5-ton AMX-13T-75-M51 model, equipped with the FL-10 oscillating turret and a 75 mm cannon, operated by a crew of three: commander, gunner, and driver. However, since the 2000s, the Ministry of Defense has been trying to transform these vehicles into so-called tank destroyers, capable of engaging armored vehicles with anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs).

The first modification to carry anti-tank missiles involved equipping the AMX-13 with French SS-11 ATGMs with wire guidance. The tank was also fitted with 12.7 mm and 7.62 mm machine guns mounted in the turret. This variant, developed in 2005, was never adopted due to the prohibitive cost and time required to integrate a fire control system.

In May 2010, the Alacrán (Scorpion) program was launched, leading to several versions of AMX-13-based ATGM carriers with varying numbers of launchers for the Russian 9M113 "Kornet-E" ATGMs (with 2, 3, or 4 launchers). In total, the program planned to convert 24 tanks into ATGM carriers equipped with "Kornet-E."

These modifications involved removing the FL-12 turret with its 105 mm gun (which Peruvian AMX-13s had received in place of the 75 mm guns in the late 1980s) and installing targeting and guidance systems, including the 1P45M-1 optical sight and the 1PN79-1 infrared sight. For self-defense, the AMX-13 Alacrán was equipped with a 12.7 mm Browning M-2HB machine gun.

During the creation of some Alacrán prototypes, local developers took excessive liberties with the design of the "Kornet," leading to the rejection of several models. The Russians made it clear that they would not take any responsibility for the quality of the equipment if the Peruvian army made any modifications or work of any kind not described in the technical documentation.

Among these developments, the local private company Diseños Casanave Corporation SAC presented a modernization project named AMX-13 Escorpión-1. This involved integrating two side rails on the turret to mount two 9K14-2M "Malyutka 2M" missiles on each.

Subsequently, the Escorpion-2 program was launched, aiming to replace the Russian missiles with the Ukrainian "Barrier" anti-tank system featuring R-2 ATGMs with a range of 5500 meters and semi-automatic laser guidance. However, this project did not progress beyond the development stage.

Despite their advanced age, the AMX-13-105s are still in service. From 2020 to 2021, they were seen at various points along the border with Ecuador as part of the deployment of biosecurity measures to prevent the transit of people during the emergency due to the pandemic. It remains to be seen if a new upgrade program will be launched by Peru for a vehicle that is slowly approaching 80 years old.