Tankopedia
Early Cold WarLightLight TankFrance

AMX-13

In service 1953 - in limited service

An air-portable light tank with an oscillating turret and autoloader that let three men fire twelve rounds fast.

Built byAtelier de Construction Roanne, Creusot-Loire

AMX-13
AMX-13 at Tankfest 2023 — Geni, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Development history

Post-war France needed a tank light enough to move by rail and air but able to kill Soviet armour, and answered with the oscillating FL-10 turret whose two revolver magazines fed the gun automatically. The price was a small ammunition load that could only be replenished from outside the vehicle and paper-thin armour. Israel used it aggressively in 1956 and 1967, and the chassis spawned a huge family of self-propelled guns and carriers.

Variants

One canonical record, 4 recorded variants.

  1. AMX-13/75

    1953

    FL-10 oscillating turret with the 75 mm SA 50 and twin revolver autoloaders.

  2. AMX-13/90

    1966

    90 mm F3 gun firing HEAT rounds.

  3. AMX-13/105

    1987

    105 mm gun for export customers.

  4. AMX-13 DCA / AMX-VCI

    1960

    Anti-aircraft and infantry carrier members of the chassis family.

Notable actions

  • Suez Crisis (1956)
  • Six-Day War (1967)
  • Indo-Pakistani War (1971)
  • Lebanese Civil War (1975-90)