Lebanon army VAB HOT anti-tank vehicle from France 11606172

Defense & Security News - Lebanon
 
Lebanon has taken delivery of second hand VAB HOT anti-tank vehicles from France.
Lebanon has taken delivery of first batch of second hand VAB HOT anti-tank wheeled armoured vehicles from France during an official ceremony, May 30, 2017. A total of 15 VAB HOT will be delivered to the Lebanese armed forces.
     
Lebanon has taken delivery of first batch of second hand VAB HOT anti-tank wheeled armoured vehicles from France during an official ceremony, May 30, 2017. A total of 15 VAB HOT will be delivered to the Lebanese armed forces.
Official ceremony for the delivery of French VAB HOT to the Lebanese armed forces in Lebanon. (Source Twitter)

     
France will also deliver training for drivers, maintainers, operators, and NCOs, as well as light and medium-calibre ammunition and spare parts.

French Embassy in Lebanon Chargé d'Affaires Arnaud Pescheux said: “Our bilateral dialogue identified the need for long-range direct fire capability, in particular to better deal with terrorist groups in the Ersal region, so we decided to provide the Lebanese Army with 15 missile-armed armoured vehicles.

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.

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 armour. 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.
     
Lebanon has taken delivery of first batch of second hand VAB HOT anti-tank wheeled armoured vehicles from France during an official ceremony, May 30, 2017. A total of 15 VAB HOT will be delivered to the Lebanese armed forces.
VAB HOT anti-tank vehicle of French army