Panhard M3

The Panhard M3 VTT was an amphibious armoured personnel carrier developed by Panhard as a private venture for the export market. It was built on the mechanical parts and chassis of the Panhard AML armoured car, and the two vehicles share about 95 percent of their automotive parts. Work began in 1967 after the French Army had not adopted a 1959 design study for such a vehicle, the first prototype was finished in August 1969, and the reworked design was approved for series production in April 1971. A four-cylinder air-cooled petrol engine powers it, and all four wheels also propel the vehicle through water at about 4 kilometres per hour. Besides the troop carrier there were ambulance, command post, repair, engineering and air defence versions. Production ended in 1986 after 1,180 had been built, and by then it was the most common wheeled armoured personnel carrier made by any Western nation, in service in 26 countries.