French Defence Minister announces arrival of first AMX-10 RC wheeled tanks in Ukraine

Sebastien Lecornu, the French Minister of Defence, announced the arrival of the first batch of French AMX-10 RC wheeled tanks in Ukraine on Thursday, 16 March. Source: Lecornu made this statement to the defence committee of the National Assembly of France, European Pravda reports, citing Le Figaro. Details: According to Lecornu, the AMX-10 RC armoured vehicles have "just arrived in Ukraine", and "some of them have already gone to the front line".

The French defence minister added that Paris is already starting to plan the shipment of the second batch of wheeled tanks. "I am preparing a series of resolutions for the president [Macron - ed.], because they [AMX-10 RCs - ed.] are starting to get good feedback from Ukrainian partners," he added.

Lecornu said in late February that the first AMX-10 RCs would be delivered to Ukraine at the end of next week. Background: French President Emmanuel Macron announced in early January that France would provide Ukraine with AMX-10 RC armoured personnel carriers. According to the media, Paris was initially supposed to send 14 AMX-10 RCs, and a total of about 40 machines are expected to be supplied.

The AMX-10 RC is an armoured combat vehicle manufactured by the French company GIAT, designed for reconnaissance. It has been in service with the French forces since 1981. As of 2021, the French army had more than 240 such vehicles; from 2021, they will gradually be replaced by Jaguar combat reconnaissance vehicles.

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The AMX-10 RC is equipped with a 105-mm cannon, a 7.62-mm machine gun and two electrically operated smoke grenade launchers on each side of the turret. Ammunition consists of 38 rounds of 105-mm and 4,000 rounds of 7.62-mm ammunition and 16 smoke grenades. The French armoured fighting vehicle is often called a "wheeled tank" because it is capable of fighting armoured vehicles.

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