I think the one French-made military vehicle the Chieftain might enjoy is the Hotchkiss M201. That it is literally a Willy's Jeep with a "Made in France" sticker is probably why.
I'm like 5' 5" and happier about it all the time. There is no real benefit to being tall, unless it's in like hand to hand combat. Which I generally avoid.
@@justforever96 I can see better in crowds or concerts? But yeah, there's no cars or trucks you can't drive, and there's tons I can't. And clothing is a PITA. Son was very happy to have stopped at 6' even. Let's not get started on flying.
For what it's worth, that address does still exist, and is apparently considered a historical landmark. However, it now houses SNCF, France's train operator, so they MAY be a little confused about complaints regarding 60mm mortars. They might respond to complaints about leg room, though.
Man, my neck hurts just watching you do that. It's crazy they couldn't just suck it up and make it 20% bigger so average size people actually fit comfortably.
Because armor weighs a lot. The more volume you try to enclose with armor the more it weighs, and they probably had strict weight limitations to meet. It's not like it's just up to the company to make the best vehicle they can and then sell it, that are generally making it to a specific requirement. Its that or make it much thinner. And I guarantee you the 18-22 year old boys serving in this wouldn't find that anywhere near as difficult, even the taller ones. Age makes you stiff and awkward.
@@justforever96 youth and flexibility notwithstanding, making a vehicle so thoughtless about ergonomics will affect the effectiveness and survivability of the crew. Young people might be more flexible, but they’ll no less have to still twist around like a pretzel to even fit somewhat comfortably.
When this thing was designed, French army consisted of conscripts. It was easy to select the shorter ones for these vehicles. At the time, All my « short » friends were directed to tanks units.
@@Gillymonster18 I'm sure they thought about ergonomics. They just prioritized other things and simply assigned short people as vehicle crews. You can either have the best vehicle possible or the best crew possible, but not both.
@@r2dter There was a thing on TV about Brug 14, where the luitenant was potting enemy infantry with his 9mm through the pistol ports, but I can't really remember the visuals.
It all confirms my opinion that all armoured vehicles, when prototyped, should be manned by the designers and then a large fire lit underneath so that they can personally demonstrate how easy and fast it is to evacuate the vehicle when it is on fire. That will solve accessibility problems at the design stage by the Darwin method.
I'm 6ft tall and was a driver/gunner in AML 60/90 with Irish Cavalry Corps. It was a tight fit, and I had to remove the back rest, but I was able to fit and drive and shoot.
When The Chieftain says "Jesus Christ" when entering a vehicle, You know the vehicle is a tad hard to get into or drive. And we won't get to hear "Oh bugger the tank is on fire" 😢
Three of my uncles were in the national guard when it was federalized in 1940. They decided to volunteer for tanks but were turned down because they were all between 6’ and 6’2”. They were offer artillery but decided to stay infantry. They were split up and all were in months of combat during the war. All survived
If Trooper Moran couldn't fit in one, there's no way The Chieftain was going to 🤣 All we need now is the AMX-13, the AMX-10RC, and the Leclérc to try :D
I had a 1950 Renault Dauphine withe the same clutchless gear system ! They called a "Ferlec" clutch. It seemed to be the only one in Australia, and when it broke down, no-one knew how to repair it. Since I am only a couple of inches shorter than The Chieftain, my getting into that little Renault was like him getting into that AML-60 ! (I eventually converted it to a conventional pedal and clutch, and mounted the driver's seat further rearward.)
If for no other reason, that you are a smaller target on the battlefield. ^-^ Also, a heck of a lot easier to dig a 5' deep foxhole that a 6+ feet foxhole.
Watching the Chieftain twist about in that thing makes me thing he could do with even just a knock-off FAST helmet to save himself from potential impacts.
Me being 6'4" and nearly 300lbs., I'd have to nope out on trying to squeeze into these vehicles. 😅 As Ian of "Forgotten Weapons" says, "The French copy nobody and nobody copies the French"! 😊
Indeed regards the French and technology... though the gear knob is in the wrong place for a French vehicle, it should be sticking out of the dashboard ;)
Perhaps the bar across the back of the turret is for those entering via the Driver's hatch to pull themselves up into the turret (a bit like a chin up bar)?
When I did my national service 45 years ago, my call-sign was trained on AML-60s run by the Airforce for ground defense. The thing I remember was the horrible lime green vinyl covering the seats, and the bright dayglow orange tape on the wheel. In the event, the Airforce changed its mind, and, in the end, we ended up with 5-ton Nissan trucks covered with mild steel plate pretending to be armour, with several pintle mounted FN Mags, a .50 caliber HMG, and a Chinese recoilless rifle for our convoy escort role.
TY Chieftain. I always wondered the interior of an AML, now we know. The 90 mm version is the T-55 killer I only read about. In the bush wars it was said to be nimble ,and stealthy.
6 หลายเดือนก่อน
After a Saturday spend trying to fit inton various AFVs at the German tank museum I can relate to this Video as a 195 cm Tall western european :)
12:30 France had systematic conscription when the AML (and AMX-13) was entering service. So, the pool to select crews from was very large, vastly in excess of requirements. So, limiting height was not a big problem.
I wonder if The Chieftain has a sense of adventure to visit South African and compare the AMLs with the Eland 60s/90s (aka Noddy Cars) together with all the various indigenous manufactured Armoured vehicles? I remember the Noddy Car drivers swinging themselves onto the seats feet first from that side door.
After watching this, I would love to hear your insights on the "tank" I drove for six years in the French Foreign Legion: The AMC-10 series. I am 5'10" or 1.70+ meters, and it took me a good year to get used to it. Thankfully I became a trainer on it.
Best suited to Nepalese army, perhaps. Average height of Gurkha recruits in British army I have seen as 5 foot 3 inches, or just over 160 cm. If they are not comfortable in a vehicle, it should not be purchased.
Interesting about the twin machine guns. I have long speculated that's the real reason they used twin guns in the Pz I, the early Pz.III, the Fiat series of tank, etc. You can use them for heavier fire but suspect is mostly for sustained fire.
I am curious on the AMX 30 tank French vehicles inside space seem worse then soviet vehicles. Only other two nations, I think that might have tighter space is chinese or north Korean.
To be fair to the designers, there really IS a size restriction on armoured cars like the AML-60. It's really helpful if they can operate on normal roads and in normal towns.
I was thinking it would have been easier for you to stand up and exit through the front hatch than reversing out through the door, but after you repositioned the camera, I figured you might have left one of your shoulders in the vehicle exiting that way. 💥✨🤕😧
At 7:55. "Would've made sense to an engineer at the time." As someone who has worked with engineers from 10+ countries, including working in french projects. I would claim that it is important to be specific here. It would've made sense to a FRENCH engineer at the time. Lots of french engineering solutions make no sense to engineers from other countries. (German, Swedish, Italian, Spanish etc.) In my experience, the French way of designing things is sometimes good, sometimes bad, but almost always weird.
@@mbr5742The US has never had a "conscript army" at any time. We have had drafts, which are like a lottery system for serving, which only comes into effort in wartime. Conscription means _all_ males of a certain age have to serve an obligatory period, war or peace. Then another few decades as reserves if they need you.
i wonder if the small french thing is a design to have big strong infantry and shove the undersized fighting troops into the mechanised roles because you are not a big strong soldier, which probably works well for a country using conscript soldiers.
Don't take this as face value, but a long time ago i read it was to make use of smaller people for combat and reduce cost at the same time. Since there was still the conscription. Might have been urban legend. So take it wth a grain of salt.
@@DragoonZeroAlpha So did the air force. I have personally seen WW2 fighter aircraft that i could not fit into and close the canopy. Plus, shorter people have less issues with G force, making them preferred for fighter pilots.
You have to think positive. The smaller the inside is, that just means that the armor is thicker. They chose to make the plates smaller and thicker, since presumably the total weight was limited. Would you rather b be comfortable or protected when they stay shooting at you?
the small size might be (slightly) justified as france even after WWII had still a quite large farmer population, and so the average frenchman was a tad bit shorter than the average american or irish (by about 4-5 cm according to what i can find with a speedy google search) quite still small, but smaller average meant there was still a larger share of people eligible to fit in said tanks and ACs compared to the USA or Eire still cramped tho
So this vehicle know to be one of the biggest export success of the Cold War, have been used in dozens of battles and wars, was even used against tanks, is now just a meme for height/ french jokes in all the comments...congrats, great success on this, do a vid for that...
You select your AFV crews based on their small size and you build AFV's at their scale. This reduces the volume you have to protect, hence your size, weight & silhouette, you can now use a smaller engine, again saving weight, you now have better fuel economy, etc... it's a virtuous circle. The soviets did this too. And if your enemy captures some of your vehicles and they're not following the same HR policy, they're in for a world of hurt if they try to use them.
France makes most of their AFVs to muck around in Africa.That is why they are so light,even at the expense of the bare minimum of armor for high intesity conflict(AMX-10) or crew comfort(this one). My suspicion is that the french would conscript pygmies from their colony in Congo.
Panhard:"Lets make an amored vehicle with absolutely no ergonomics, just for fun".
French army. "Tres bien, we buy it!"
I think the one French-made military vehicle the Chieftain might enjoy is the Hotchkiss M201.
That it is literally a Willy's Jeep with a "Made in France" sticker is probably why.
fine for someone who isnt very tall
As a person who barely passed 5'4"(now passing 5'2" going the other way), I have to smile at the Chieftain's struggles.👍👍
A hobbit would fit in there perfectly (as long as he skips all but breakfast, lunchens and dinner.
Ah yes, with age comes diminishing returns. ^~^
I'm like 5' 5" and happier about it all the time. There is no real benefit to being tall, unless it's in like hand to hand combat. Which I generally avoid.
@@justforever96 I can see better in crowds or concerts? But yeah, there's no cars or trucks you can't drive, and there's tons I can't. And clothing is a PITA.
Son was very happy to have stopped at 6' even. Let's not get started on flying.
I'm 6', I've also been to Holland a couple of times, I felt short. I was regularly at shoulder height to other guys, felt weird!
I had an uncle who was 5’2” who served in the REME. I used to wonder how he coped, but now think he was born to operate/ work on AFV.
For what it's worth, that address does still exist, and is apparently considered a historical landmark. However, it now houses SNCF, France's train operator, so they MAY be a little confused about complaints regarding 60mm mortars. They might respond to complaints about leg room, though.
I was about to ask if there are any Parisians who know what's there now 😂
I started laughing when you said "you've gotta be kidding me, I'm in the turret ring". God bless you.
and here we see the Chieftain demonstrating how to man an AML-60 with one person :P
11:48 “unless you are a dwarf or vertically challenged”. I think I will use this phrase from now on.
I want to know what the difference is.
@@justforever96Dwarf: small stocky folk who live underground
Vertically challenged: small stocky folk who live above ground
Man, my neck hurts just watching you do that. It's crazy they couldn't just suck it up and make it 20% bigger so average size people actually fit comfortably.
Because armor weighs a lot. The more volume you try to enclose with armor the more it weighs, and they probably had strict weight limitations to meet. It's not like it's just up to the company to make the best vehicle they can and then sell it, that are generally making it to a specific requirement. Its that or make it much thinner. And I guarantee you the 18-22 year old boys serving in this wouldn't find that anywhere near as difficult, even the taller ones. Age makes you stiff and awkward.
@@justforever96 youth and flexibility notwithstanding, making a vehicle so thoughtless about ergonomics will affect the effectiveness and survivability of the crew. Young people might be more flexible, but they’ll no less have to still twist around like a pretzel to even fit somewhat comfortably.
It’s the Army, you don’t fit the vehicle to the soldiers, you fit the soldiers to the vehicle.
When this thing was designed, French army consisted of conscripts.
It was easy to select the shorter ones for these vehicles.
At the time, All my « short » friends were directed to tanks units.
@@Gillymonster18 I'm sure they thought about ergonomics. They just prioritized other things and simply assigned short people as vehicle crews. You can either have the best vehicle possible or the best crew possible, but not both.
Here in South Africa we license produced them as Elands, but all the troops called em Noddy cars!
Hey, they can always shop them out to the Al Bahr shrines for their parade cars.
I never understood why they were called Noddy cars, but now I do after seeing the inside. Airforce for me!
@@dougerrohmer ja, never seen a photo of them deployed with all crew inside and hatches closed!
@@r2dter There was a thing on TV about Brug 14, where the luitenant was potting enemy infantry with his 9mm through the pistol ports, but I can't really remember the visuals.
It all confirms my opinion that all armoured vehicles, when prototyped, should be manned by the designers and then a large fire lit underneath so that they can personally demonstrate how easy and fast it is to evacuate the vehicle when it is on fire. That will solve accessibility problems at the design stage by the Darwin method.
Oh Bugger, the Chieftain is on fire! Oh never mind...
I'm 6ft tall and was a driver/gunner in AML 60/90 with Irish Cavalry Corps. It was a tight fit, and I had to remove the back rest, but I was able to fit and drive and shoot.
Simultaneously?
@@MrSheep-uv7up 😅
What was the bar on the back of the turret hatch used for,that chieftain pointed out ,do you remember?
When The Chieftain says "Jesus Christ" when entering a vehicle,
You know the vehicle is a tad hard to get into or drive.
And we won't get to hear
"Oh bugger the tank is on fire"
😢
I love how he returns to his Irish voice when under pressure.
Three of my uncles were in the national guard when it was federalized in 1940. They decided to volunteer for tanks but were turned down because they were all between 6’ and 6’2”. They were offer artillery but decided to stay infantry. They were split up and all were in months of combat during the war. All survived
Extracting Private Ryan (from the tank).
3:17 So this is the new Metal Yoga...
Never tire of chieftain videos.
sooooo getting into said AML-60 "Gnome mobile"... Origami comes to mind... fold, spinal, mutilate and such. ^~^
What? There’s a vision port in your rear? That HAS to be uncomfortable. Chieftain, the things you do to keep us entertained…impressive. And thanks!
For those times the commander has his head up his arse.
If Trooper Moran couldn't fit in one, there's no way The Chieftain was going to 🤣 All we need now is the AMX-13, the AMX-10RC, and the Leclérc to try :D
Doesn't fit doesn't sit, although it was a worthy attempt
8:12 The German TPz Fuchs and SpPz Luchs do have center indicators.
13:05 I fully expected the sign to say "Don't try to fire the gun".
I had a 1950 Renault Dauphine withe the same clutchless gear system ! They called a "Ferlec" clutch. It seemed to be the only one in Australia, and when it broke down, no-one knew how to repair it. Since I am only a couple of inches shorter than The Chieftain, my getting into that little Renault was like him getting into that AML-60 ! (I eventually converted it to a conventional pedal and clutch, and mounted the driver's seat further rearward.)
This video is a reminder that being short definitely has its perks.
If for no other reason, that you are a smaller target on the battlefield. ^-^
Also, a heck of a lot easier to dig a 5' deep foxhole that a 6+ feet foxhole.
Would love to see a review of the British Army Ferret or Fox for comparison. Well done Chieftain.
Watching the Chieftain twist about in that thing makes me thing he could do with even just a knock-off FAST helmet to save himself from potential impacts.
You can tell you're visiting home. The accent and pronunciation is coming to the surface.
Enjoy the Barry's tea!
I was getting cramps watching you move around in that thing. Now I am in pain. Thanks, Chieftain for teaching me what vehicle not to get into.
Me being 6'4" and nearly 300lbs., I'd have to nope out on trying to squeeze into these vehicles. 😅
As Ian of "Forgotten Weapons" says, "The French copy nobody and nobody copies the French"! 😊
They'd have to build the vehicle around you^^
Indeed regards the French and technology... though the gear knob is in the wrong place for a French vehicle, it should be sticking out of the dashboard ;)
@@jon-paulfilkins7820 Honda does this as well. Why I will never ever by a Honda.
Well in this case somebody did copy the French as the Southafricans used the Panhard AML as the base for their own Eland series of armoured cars.
@@Vonstab South Africa used the Panhard AML because no one else would sell them a license to produce their armored car designs.
A most informative and entertaining presentation and channel overall. Thanks, all.
When the first three minutes of the video are a blooper reel...
For a moment I thought I heard the sound of a cutting torch firing up.
You're a good sport Mr Chieftain.
That's how you know it's going to be a good video
hahaha
Perhaps the bar across the back of the turret is for those entering via the Driver's hatch to pull themselves up into the turret (a bit like a chin up bar)?
When I did my national service 45 years ago, my call-sign was trained on AML-60s run by the Airforce for ground defense. The thing I remember was the horrible lime green vinyl covering the seats, and the bright dayglow orange tape on the wheel. In the event, the Airforce changed its mind, and, in the end, we ended up with 5-ton Nissan trucks covered with mild steel plate pretending to be armour, with several pintle mounted FN Mags, a .50 caliber HMG, and a Chinese recoilless rifle for our convoy escort role.
6:30 your Aahhh is perfect french 👍
I always enjoy learning from the vast knowledge you have on armored vehicles. Thank you.
TY Chieftain. I always wondered the interior of an AML, now we know. The 90 mm version is the T-55 killer I only read about. In the bush wars it was said to be nimble ,and stealthy.
After a Saturday spend trying to fit inton various AFVs at the German tank museum I can relate to this Video as a 195 cm Tall western european :)
Oh bugger the tank is on fire! 🔥🔥🔥
Who needs a crew! The one man AFV
12:30 France had systematic conscription when the AML (and AMX-13) was entering service. So, the pool to select crews from was very large, vastly in excess of requirements. So, limiting height was not a big problem.
This was interesting and informative!
I wonder if The Chieftain has a sense of adventure to visit South African and compare the AMLs with the Eland 60s/90s (aka Noddy Cars) together with all the various indigenous manufactured Armoured vehicles? I remember the Noddy Car drivers swinging themselves onto the seats feet first from that side door.
14:30 Maybe there's an alternate internal configuration that has more storage for the 60mm mortar rounds and less for the 7.62mm?
The Lilliputian Military called and was asking where you left the vehicle...
Legend has it there are still a few patrolling along the Quadling border.
Once you were in the drivers seat I was concerned they may need to gas axe a larger exit😂
I always thought the AMLs were pretty cool little vehicles. Watching Nick's struggles has burst my bubble.
They are still cool little vehicles, they just aren't designed to be crewed by humans. A troop of meerkats is probably what was intended as crew.
@@wbertie2604 😄
@1:10 See IRL you can phase thru the mesh of an object if collide with it just right.
Literally an armored "fighting" vehicle
It fights everyone, including the crew
You know….when you’re 60, you’re going to look back at these videos and say…WTF was I thinking!
For some reason the turret contortions reminds me of inspector Clouseau part
They need octopusman to drive the thing. And an emergency exit seems dubious in an 'oh no the tank is on fire' event.
Chieftain! Get out! You're in the kids car.
I think that it might actually be a 1/2 scale model for museum display purposes. I've seen people driving 1/2 scale traction engines at steam rallies.
@@alexandermonro6768 How the museum staff must have chortled. ..
Chieftain needs a old tankers leather helmet to wear climbing around in these old AFV's.
I'm 5,4,, and I loved my warrior ifv never had a problem
After watching this, I would love to hear your insights on the "tank" I drove for six years in the French Foreign Legion: The AMC-10 series. I am 5'10" or 1.70+ meters, and it took me a good year to get used to it. Thankfully I became a trainer on it.
I've never crawled over one.
Best suited to Nepalese army, perhaps. Average height of Gurkha recruits in British army I have seen as 5 foot 3 inches, or just over 160 cm. If they are not comfortable in a vehicle, it should not be purchased.
Oh, bugger! The armored car is on fire.
I believe there was one French vehicle the Chieftain fit into, the Char B1. That was long time ago.
Designed for leprechauns ....green to match as well 😃
oh no the tank is on fire!
Interesting about the twin machine guns. I have long speculated that's the real reason they used twin guns in the Pz I, the early Pz.III, the Fiat series of tank, etc. You can use them for heavier fire but suspect is mostly for sustained fire.
The Shire has found it's armored car.
3:41 My sensation of feeling dumb just now realizing the Otakar Cobra and Panhard VBL aren't the same guntruck.
Another wonderful example of people who design things not actually using them.
What is the adjustment know in the middle of the steering wheel?
I am curious on the AMX 30 tank
French vehicles inside space seem worse then soviet vehicles.
Only other two nations, I think that might have tighter space is chinese or north Korean.
To be fair to the designers, there really IS a size restriction on armoured cars like the AML-60. It's really helpful if they can operate on normal roads and in normal towns.
I was thinking it would have been easier for you to stand up and exit through the front hatch than reversing out through the door, but after you repositioned the camera, I figured you might have left one of your shoulders in the vehicle exiting that way. 💥✨🤕😧
You should try and do the L3/33 or maybe something like the Wiesel AWC
At 7:55. "Would've made sense to an engineer at the time."
As someone who has worked with engineers from 10+ countries, including working in french projects. I would claim that it is important to be specific here.
It would've made sense to a FRENCH engineer at the time. Lots of french engineering solutions make no sense to engineers from other countries. (German, Swedish, Italian, Spanish etc.) In my experience, the French way of designing things is sometimes good, sometimes bad, but almost always weird.
@3:45 Gets out, nothing before that, can touch the switches
A french vehicle you are comfortable in, maybe char b1 commander/gunner maybe you can stand up fully and dont need to use the sling seat
Gaijin, I'm waiting! Patiently...but not for long....
3:57 Sounds like a good excuse for The Chieftain to try out a Mirage 2000.
France had a conscript army so no shortage of short soldiers .
The mentioned AMX 13 is from the 1950s/60s. During that time the USA still had one as well
@@mbr5742The US has never had a "conscript army" at any time. We have had drafts, which are like a lottery system for serving, which only comes into effort in wartime. Conscription means _all_ males of a certain age have to serve an obligatory period, war or peace. Then another few decades as reserves if they need you.
I think the fact that they are all young men had a lot more to do with it.
Drinking Wine at an early age might be stunting their growth.
i wonder if the small french thing is a design to have big strong infantry and shove the undersized fighting troops into the mechanised roles because you are not a big strong soldier, which probably works well for a country using conscript soldiers.
Don't take this as face value, but a long time ago i read it was to make use of smaller people for combat and reduce cost at the same time. Since there was still the conscription.
Might have been urban legend. So take it wth a grain of salt.
I does have a slight smell of the truth.
A lot of armored forces had height limits back in the older days of yore...
@@DragoonZeroAlpha So did the air force. I have personally seen WW2 fighter aircraft that i could not fit into and close the canopy. Plus, shorter people have less issues with G force, making them preferred for fighter pilots.
The torture that you put yourself through to educate/amuse us ! .Ah, the schadenfreude is overwhelminge .
AmL 20 turrets were actually the original turrets sent to South Africa and converted
You have to think positive. The smaller the inside is, that just means that the armor is thicker. They chose to make the plates smaller and thicker, since presumably the total weight was limited. Would you rather b be comfortable or protected when they stay shooting at you?
It might just be me, but I'd rather be able to make the vehicle move!
The first three minutes reminded me of Police Academy, when Mahoney was teaching Hightower how to drive...
Maybe this is an example of a one person fighting vehicle? 2:52 lol
the small size might be (slightly) justified as france even after WWII had still a quite large farmer population, and so the average frenchman was a tad bit shorter than the average american or irish (by about 4-5 cm according to what i can find with a speedy google search)
quite still small, but smaller average meant there was still a larger share of people eligible to fit in said tanks and ACs compared to the USA or Eire
still cramped tho
How does this compare to the turret on the AC-1 Sentinel? Didn’t that thing have the gunner’s position rotated 90 degrees relative to the sight?
Watching this video is like going to a school trip to a canned tuna factory.
wow that just looks like a nightmare to drive with that little front compartment
So we have two contenders for worst. Best has to be from those WW one armored cars where you stand on a pedestal to use the turret.
So this vehicle know to be one of the biggest export success of the Cold War, have been used in dozens of battles and wars, was even used against tanks, is now just a meme for height/ french jokes in all the comments...congrats, great success on this, do a vid for that...
@TheChieftain sorry but what boots are you wearing??😂 they look very comfortable and stylish!
is the sentinel a big improvement?
My neck hurts while watching this.
Picturing Lubo from Hogans Hero driving this comfortably 😂😂
Should call up the French armor museum at Samur and ask if you can do an AMX-30, maybe that'll be a little bit better.
You select your AFV crews based on their small size and you build AFV's at their scale. This reduces the volume you have to protect, hence your size, weight & silhouette, you can now use a smaller engine, again saving weight, you now have better fuel economy, etc... it's a virtuous circle.
The soviets did this too.
And if your enemy captures some of your vehicles and they're not following the same HR policy, they're in for a world of hurt if they try to use them.
If ever there was a need for the Soviet leather tank crew helmet....
No room for it.
Maybe you put it on like armor. So lift the top, put the Chieftain in and then lower the top half down and bolt in place 😂
I can't imagine the room of the turret of the one with the 90mm gun
Tis built for the Wee Ones me Lad.
France makes most of their AFVs to muck around in Africa.That is why they are so light,even at the expense of the bare minimum of armor for high intesity conflict(AMX-10) or crew comfort(this one).
My suspicion is that the french would conscript pygmies from their colony in Congo.
Exported to Loopaland for the Oompa Loompas to drive?
Can't believe anyone even thought of going to battle in that