The VAB Mephisto or VAB HOT was the tank hunter variant of the VAB (Vehicle de l'Avant Blindé) proverbial APC for 50 years, until replacement by the new Scorpion program Griffon. The acronym MEPHISTO stands for Module Élévateur Panoramique Hot Installé Sur Tourelle Orientable. 135 were ordered as modified to operate a HOT 2 antitank missile in a telescopic quad launcher, with reloads below. The HOT Mark 2 was able to penetrate up to 900 mm of armour at a range of 4,000-4,250 meters. The vehicle was protected by a STB52V turret with a 7.62 mm NATO LMG and a dedicated fire control system with four man crew. It saw action in the 1991 Gulf war as part of the Daguet Division.

About the VAB

The Véhicule de l'Avant Blindé (VAB) is a French 4x4 or 6x6 armored personnel carrier (APC) developed by Renault Trucks Defense (now part of Arquus). It has been a backbone of the French Army and is also widely used in other countries. Introduced in 1976 it was used for Troop transport, but also as command vehicle, ambulance, reconnaissance, mortar carrier, among others with little modifications with its modular interior. Mostly used by France it was also widely exported to over 20 other countries.

The stanbdard crew comprises a driver and commander acting also as gunner, and ten 10 troops full equipped could take place on bunks inside. The vehicle was base don a chassis powerplant and chassis, manufactured by a branch of Renault Trucks and using readily available off-the-shelff components to make it cheaper, for a production abocve 5000 vehicles over the years. Weighting 13.8 tons (varies by version) it had a well sloped hull made of welded steel armour protects from small arms and shrapnel and was generally armed with a NATO 7.62mm or 12.7mm M2HB HMG or even a 20mm cannon in some variants. Powered by the Renault MIDS 06.20.45, 220 hp it could reach with ease 90 km/h or even 100-110 kph on road with a range of 1,000 km.

Th basic VAB APC ("VTT") is also buoyant enough when fully sealed (NBC protection) to be Amphibious propelled with water jets and erecting a trim vane. It was declined into multiple variants that were heavily modified such as the TOP with a remote-controlled weapon station, the SAN optimized for Medical evacuation the ATGM equipped with anti-tank guided missiles (other than Mephito). Albeit the base vehicle was in 4x4 there were also series of 6x6 to carry greater payload or simply to have a better grip on soft terrains, mud and snow.

After Renault Truck Defense was created, the vehicle was upgraded and propose to the export market as the VAB Ultima and VAB Mk3 with improved armor up to STANAG Level 4, Better mobility and mine protection, Remote weapon systems. However the vehicle is gradually replaced in France by the VBMR Griffon under the Scorpion program. Today there are still around 2000 in service of various types with many (some sources says around 400) donated to Ukraine. It sucession would be assured by the Griffon (c600 delivered 2023, 936 planned for December, 1,872 on order FY2030) and smaller 4x4 Serval (250 as of 2025, 1,060 FY2033).

Specifics of the VAB Mephisto

The VAB Mephisto, or VAB HOT, is a tank-hunter vehicle, derived from the VAB with 135 ordered by the French Army after it was presented, and accepted in 1978. MEPHISTO stands for "Module Élévateur Panoramique Hot Installé Sur Tourelle Orientable" ("Panoramic Elevator Module Hot Installed on a Rotating Turret"). However the name "mephisto" referred to a classic 19th Century opera demonic villain also featured in 1968 by DC comics in the Marvel universe.

Development of the VAB mephisto is uncertain, albeit it was planned in the variants developed early on for the VAB as a way to add an organic anti-tank capability to light mobile reconnaissance units or motorized infantry using the VAB. Previously several vehicles of the French army tested adaptatiopn of the small Nord SS-11 ATGM. This manual command to line of sight wire-guided anti-tank missile made its way in the Army on almost all vehicles, other NATO allies, and was well exported, even considered for adoption by the US. From 1957 was developed the SS.12 but it never met the same success, albeit 10,000 were produced until 1982.

In between, the US worked on a small, portable ATGM that was destined to NATO allies, the Hellfire. But the collaboration on the SS-12 in France with Germany led to a common project, later named "HOT" for This became the HOT missile for "Haut subsonique Optiquement Téléguidé Tiré d'un Tube" (High Subsonic, Optical, Remote-Guided, Tube-Launched). It was adopted in 1977 and the Mark 2 appeared soon (HOT 2), see later. So the latter, still in late development phase, was adopted for the ATGM carrier variant of the VAB.

The VAB (no need to get into details, see the original VAB article for the design) had ots rear compartment, where the crew stood, completely gutted and replaced by a complex mechanism, powered electrically, to raise and elevate, traverse a quadruple mount for the HOT 2 anti-tank surface-to-surface missile. The firing station comprises four canisters close together (no "wings" as often seen in such systems) and it could also elevate a bit. The HOT 2 was capable of penetrating up to 900 mm of armor at a range between 4,000 and 4,250 meters. The basic VAB Mephisto needed a defensive secondary armament which was restrained to a 7.62×51mm NATO AN F1, mounted on an STB52V turret ("tourelleau").

The VAB Mephisto was designed as a complete weapons system with a crew of four, consisting of a vehicle commander (also standing to man the 7.62 mm LMG) a driver, and in the rear comparment a gunner and observer-loader. The first laid the mount in the correct angle and elevation depending on the terrain ahead, from data coming from the observer, that can stand remotelly with a talkie walkie outside, dismounted and camouflaged. If all four missiles were fired, guided each by the gunner using his own sight module since the HOT uses SACLOS.

The firing system consists of an elevator module with four missile launchers, separated into two loading drums, each with four missiles for a total of twelve HOT missiles. The gunner uses a gyro-stabilized sight so that in theory the vehicle can be on the move when firing. The vehicle was taller than the usual VAB becaise of the launcher, not fully retractable, for a total height of 2.54 m with the sight retracted for regular road travels, 2.99 m when extended in low visibility stance, 3.27 m when fully extended at mac elevation to clear off obstacles.

For night firing, the VAB Mephitos also received the MEPHIRA night sighting system, using infrared sensors, allowing firing between 600 and 3,000 meters by night and a detection range also by night or poor vibilty up to 4,000 meters, plus enough resolution to identify any vehicle type at 1,500 meters.

Specifics about the HOT ATGM

Development started in 1968 between France and Germany, and this was the start of what became Euromissiles, later MBDA, the giant of Missiles in Europe. It entered service in 1977 and is still active with large stockpiles, albeit most were deactivated from 1990. It was replaced by a whole new generation of ATGMs since. The HIT is a Tube-launched, wire-guided ATGM guided with SACLOS (Semi-Automatic Command to Line of Sight), wire-guided and capable of reaching a target at 240 m/s (864 kph) at a range between 400 m and 4,000 m using a tandem HEAT warhead (3.5–4 kg) capable of penetraying originally up to 800 mm RHA and more on the Mark 2.

The HOT was light enough to be carried and reloaded by hand at 23 kg for a lenght of 1.3 m. For context, it could take on frontally a Soviet T-54/55, T-62 or a T-72 at other angles well beyond their own engagement distance. The HOT was one crucial partof the European strategy to defeat Soviet tanks with non-armoured units, recon or infantry. The HOT could come with a variety of launchers, including portables ones for infantry so to be deployed from APCs.

The export Mephisto: UTM-800

The VAB Mephisto was not the only platform built in series with ATGMs. There was for example the 6x6 UTM-800 made for Cyprus (above). 42 were made for Cyprus and Qatar in 1980-82 and 1987-88 in two batches, using a new UTM-800 unmanned turret spoting a twin arm configuration and eight HOT missiles total, also 12 in store. The other named for the Mephisto, at least official, was the VCAC, initially armed with the HOT 1, with 4 ready ATGMs and eight more in reserve. It was known internaitonally as the "VAB HOT" but it never became official.

Specifications
Dimensions (l-w-h):	Same but height, see notes
Total weight, battle ready:	14t
Crew :	4: driver, cdr, gunner, loader/observer
Propulsion:	Renault MIDS 06-20-45 TD 6 cyl. 220 hp, 16hp/ton
Suspensions:	Same as VAB
Top Speed	90 kph
Range (flat)	310 liters multifuel, 1000 km
Armament	4x HOT ATGM, 12 total.
Armour	Same as VAB
Total Production	135

Gallery

VAB Mephisto in Operation Daguet, Gulf War 1991

VAB HOT in the 1990s with the NATO tricolor camo

Combat Deployment

The VAB Mephisto entered production in 1982 with an initial order of 135 vehicles for the French Army alone. The first Anti-Tank Company (CAC) equipped was created in the in 1983, named "CAC 3" as it was formed within the 3rd Armored Division, part of the French forces stationed in Germany. Half its personnel came from the 110th Infantry Regiment (MILAN ATGM personnel) and the 19th Infantry Regiment (AMX-13 SS.11 gun personnel). It was stationed for a long time in Donaueschingen.

Its first mission was to test and develop the entire operational doctrine for these vehicles, up to the level of a company. It was directly under command of the local Divisional headquarters and affectionately known as the "Battlefield Firefighters". They were the equivalent of WW2 German Schwere Panzer Abteilungs with their Tiger tanks to stop a breakthrough, or create one.

In 1898, the VAB Mephisto were all delivered, filling six armored divisions in service, each with an organic, divisional anti-tank company made of twelve VAB Hot attached for administration to an infantry regiment since Programming Law No. 87-343 of May 22, 1987. This organization held until 1991. The last CAC belonging to the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment was reorganized into four sections of four VAB HOT, or sixteen vehicles, when disbanded on May 6, 2010. The VAB Mephisto were returned to the armored corps cavalry but placed in depots.

This weapon system was however famously used by the Daguet Division, French part of the coalized forces led by the US that launched Operation Desert Storm. In all were stationed in this ad hoc cavalry division, some twenty-four units with CACs of the 1st Spahi Regiment and 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment. Combined, they toook part in a few anti-armour actions, but firing around sixty HOT missiles in February 1991, targeting, notably Iraqi entrenchments of the As Salman airbase. In 2011, 30 were in service with the French Army, as well as in 2015, but no longer listed as of 2019. As of 2025 their status is uncertain. None apparently was went to Ukraine, so it must be assumed they are currently in depots or pending recycling. From the initial 135 vehicles, 45 were donated to Lebanon forces from 2017, and the Royal Moroccan Army may have acquired 32 vehicles,

Users

French Army: 135 units originally ordered, withdrawn in the 2010s.

The Lebanese Land Forces were donated 15 units from May 30, 2017 plus 10 from November 27, 2018 plus 96 HOT missiles and 10 more were provided for spare parts.

The Moroccan Royal Army made the acquisition of 32 units according to Forecast International in septembre 2009. However they are no listed in its equipment today. Morocco acquired however 320 VAB VTT and 234 VAB VCI (IFV variant). There is no photo currently available of a possible Moroccan Mephisto.

Links

Forecast International, Véhicule de l'Avant Blindé, coll. « Military Vehicles Forecast », septembre 2009
weaponsystems.net
operation-daguet.fr
defense.gouv.fr
fr.wikipedia.org
armyrecognition.com
weaponsystems.net Mephisto
weaponsystems.net UTM-800
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HOT
List_of_equipment_of_the_French_Army
armee-francaise-1989
a-french-renault-vab
armyrecognition.com
army-guide.com
Plan

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lb.ambafrance.org
lemamouth.blogspot.com
forcesoperations.com
scalemates.com
artstation.com