- Yes
- No
caid’s suggestion #211
i would like to suggest an interesting vehicle for France, the Foga VP 90
The VP 90 was a minimal military utility tractor that took back the concept of the Renault UE from 1934. Etablissements Fouga de Béziers had also proposed an alternative to the Renault UE back during the interwar period but this led to no contract. in 1952 the engineer Victor Bouffort from Fouga designed the VP 90 and proposed it to the French army. the vehicle was a multi-purpose light tank offering a high mobility and the capacity to be easily deploy on every terrain. extremely light, the VP 90 was also extremely small, not even 1 meter tall. build and tested in 1953, the vehicle was capable of carrying armament, notably the 75mm M20 recoilless gun and 20mm auto-cannon in 1956. while the armament was fixed, the vehicle could raise the front and the back to allow some aiming, this capacity was primarily proposed to allow the vehicle to have better mobility in difficult terrain. the project interested the French army who saw in this vehicle a versatile field tractor, patrol vehicle, and weapon carrier. in 1958, Hotchkiss took over the project and the VP 90 was associated with the “Engin des intervalles” program which led to the development of the ELC series. As a competitor to the ELC, the VP 90 was not adapted to services. it was tested by France and Switzerland notably without result. 10 VP 90 were built in the 50s, one of which survives and is preserved at Saumur Armored Museum in France.
Firepower
the main armament of this tiny SPG is the 75mm M20 recoilless rifle. this little brother of the 106mm M40 is offering rather limited effectiveness against armored vehicles. with a penetration of 100mm using HEAT round, it will struggle to take out a tank such as the T-34. an additional 20mm machine gun is unspecified but based on the picture and his services in France, it appears to be a German MG 151/20 auto-cannon. this weapon is rather weak against armored targets but not useless. against soft targets, this auto-cannon can prove more effective than the usual 20mm thanks to his APHE rounds. both armaments are fixed but the VP90 can raise the bow or stern of the vehicle to allow a vertical aiming of -4° to +9°. the ammunition load is unknown but we can estimate 4 rounds for the 76mm and 2 belts for the 20mm can be carried. (I will let Gaijin guess how many and where the ammo should go)
Mobility
The VP 90 from Fouga is not as mobile as the version from Lohr. the engine is a 4-cylinder Porshe 1.6 L engine who offer 55 hp. already it’s less than half the power of the Lohr version. but the vehicle is very light. with 1.5 tonnes combat loaded, it can stand among the lightest vehicles of the game. vehicle was capable of reaching a speed of 90 km/h on the pretty high road. the power weight is still very good with 36.67 hp/ton it would be accelerating quite fast. if needed, the front and rear road wheels and be raised to give the chassis a different angle. it’s unspecified for this model but the model from Lohr also had this feature and could raise his nose by 9° and his rear by 4°. it would be easy to assume this model could do as much. the real nemesis of this vehicle are the breakable obstacles of the battlefield. the vehicle has been extremely light, it would be hard for it to break a wall or put down a tree. by chance, the 20mm can come in handy to clear the obstacles.
Protection
the VP 90 from Fouga has minimal protection. the main asset is his small size which is only 80 cm tall, surely making it hold the record of the smallest tank build. the form offers some protection against small arms. with 8mm of Chromium steel, it can take LMG fire safely enough. but anything larger than a riffle caliber will easily pierce through. the vehicle has no roof making it extremely vulnerable to the Arial combat and high explosives. the vehicle is so small the crew needs to lay on their belly to drive the tank. two man are laying inside the vehicle side by side.
sources
Museum board
- Fouga VP90 | Flickr
- véhicule à chenilles Fouga VP 90 armée française | Le QG 1/72e de Twist Again
- Самоходная установка VP-90 Fouga (Франция) | Dogswar.ru - Стрелковое оружие, военная техника, вооружённые силы мира
- 75mm M20 | Weaponsystems.net
- M20 recoilless rifle - Wikipedia
- véhicule à chenilles antichar Fouga VP 90 canon sans recul de 75 mm armée suisse | Le QG 1/72e de Twist Again