tanks/vehicles PEUGEOT P4 ASPIC

[*CaptDaisy97 520]

 

 

PEUGEOT P4 ASPIC

( MISTRAL launcher platform )

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

DESCRIPTION

 

This is the version of the P4 with the ASPIC MISTRAL launcher platform.

Four-missile firing station (2x2) placed on a truck and semi-automatic launch, produced by Thales.

 

The Peugeot P4 is a light-duty four-wheel drive vehicle produced by Peugeot, presented in March 1981 at Satory and used by the French Army under the designation Lightweight All-Terrain Vehicle. Although equipped and powered by Peugeot, this vehicle is a variant of the Mercedes-Benz G-Class. The replacement of the Peugeot P4 was started in recent years by the acquisition of PVP, Land Rover Defender, Ford Ranger and unprotected multi-purpose tactical light vehicles produced by Renault Trucks Defense.

 

The P4 responds to the need, formulated in the late 1960s by the French army, to replace its 10,000 Jeeps. The characteristics of the new vehicle had to meet the following constraints: transport 4 people with their package and a radio set and have aptitude for air transport and parachuting. After many delays, it was not until the late 1970s that the design of a replacement for the Jeep Hotchkiss was launched. A license agreement has been signed between Peugeot and Mercedes-Benz to split the construction of the new military vehicle equally. Prototypes were tested in 1980 by the 15th RCS in Limoges.

 

HISTORY BACKGROUND

 

 

Since 1944, the French army has always been equipped with a Jeep, originally American, before being gradually replaced by Jeep manufactured in France under license by Hotchkiss. After having used his Jeep become very obsolete because pushes in their last entrenchments, the French army demanded their replacement during the 1960s.

 

It will have to wait until the 1970s to obtain an agreement of the political power on the condition that it is a French vehicle since the political will of that time, and still today, is to have an army equipped with French equipment. If this desire may seem laudable, it can also be very expensive. The French army kept forever the memory of the Delahaye VLR which was a bitter failure, which was also described as a gross strategic error, in the early 1950s, because too sophisticated and unreliable.

 

In the 1960s, and for the next decade or so, the military looked for a builder to produce a replacement for the Jeep, because the 4 × 4 was a category of vehicles that seemed to be forgotten by the national builders. Contacts are made with the various French manufacturers to design such a vehicle.

 

The army is shining a need of 10,000 copies to encourage manufacturers to launch the development of a reconnaissance vehicle. The major manufacturers refuse very diplomatically, all invoking that the volume of the order is too low to design a new vehicle. The small builders were all endangered during this decade and none had the industrial and financial space to carry out such an enterprise.

 

Faced with these problems and to urgently find a solution, France proposes an alliance with Germany and Italy to found the project "Europa Jeep" with, in the key, a potential volume of 50 000 vehicles to provide these three armies. The project, the umpteenth attempt by Defense Europe, an idea that France had always been opposed to, is sinking rapidly.

 

The staffs of each country express different and often contradictory needs, so that one quickly falls into a dead end, before even solving the thorny question of the place of production. Each country will therefore ensure its own needs. Italy had since 1974 the Fiat Nuova Campagnola and Germany had planned the Mercedes-Benz G-Class.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

In France, the solution chosen was to acquire 9000 Citroën Méhari in droves to "relieve" the Jeep and wait for some time the military sentenced to walk on foot or truck waiting for a light vehicle. After having accepted this temporary solution, the army contacted Citroën, Peugeot and Renault at the end of 1976 to ask them to agree to design the future "Jeep". Both manufacturers categorically refuse. The army is therefore forced to accept that the French manufacturers go abroad to look for a partner to build a new 4 × 4.

 

At Renault, it is on the side of Italy that we find the best partner, with Fiat and its 4 × 4 second generation Campagnola appeared in 1974. The negotiated license agreement allows to Frenchize Campagnola by integrating an engine of Renault 20TS, if it was preferred to Fiat engines, and even to assemble some of the cases in France. The prototypes dubbed Renault TRM 500 are made in 1978 and the army tests with its competitors the Citroën C44 and the Peugeot P4.

 

For purely political reasons, the Peugeot-Mercedes model will be chosen while the Renault-Fiat model was a favorite. Sorrowful spirits will note that it took four years to move from the pre-series model stage to production, while the TRM 500 was already ready for production since already used by many armies and whose reliability was proven.

 

In 1981, the French army ordered 15,000 copies of the P4 (petrol and diesel combined), contract eventually reduced to 13,500 units following the decline in the army. From 1985, production is transferred to the Panhard factory in Marolles-en-Hurepoix, where 6,000 vehicles are produced.

 

From the end of 1982, the Sochaux plant began to assemble the P4. Peugeot then installs on the G-Class the gasoline engine of its 504, the gearbox of its 604, deals with electrical circuits, performs the welding of the body and provides treatment in cataphoresis. Everything else is made by the German manufacturer. A first prototype rolled in 1978 and began a long series of tests, including a rally in southern Algeria with two P4s, one gasoline and the other diesel.

 

A civilian version is proposed under the same name but does not meet a great success on sale due to a high price and an unfavorable weight / power ratio. In addition, Mercedes-Benz does not grant Peugeot the opportunity to export the car elsewhere than to African countries bound by a defense agreement with France.

 

At the end of 2015, the French army still has fewer than 2,500 units in service and this number continues to fall by several hundred per year. In 2016, as part of military cooperation with Cameroon aimed at fighting terrorism, the French state donated 21 P4 to the Cameroonian army. After a 1,000 Ford Ranger order in 2015 to replace the older P4s, in December 2016, an order for 3,700 vehicles was passed to replace the rest of the P4 fleet. The vehicle is a Ford Everest base, militarized by Renault Trucks Defense in France. When ordering on December 8, 2016, no date of commissioning was communicated.

 

TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS

 

 

 

Dimensions and weight
Mass	1.750 kg ( without ASPIC )
Length	4.65 m
Width	1.7 m
Height	1.93 m
Ground clearance	240 mm
Armament
Main gun	1 x ASPIC launcher ( 2×2 )
Ammunition load	( ? )
Elevation	( ? )
Traverse	360o
Crew
Binnacle	2
Mobility
Engine	Diesel 4 cylinders
Engine power	75 hp at 5000 rpm
Maximum speed on road	118 km/h
Power / Mass	24.1 hp / tonne
Maximum inclination	100% ( 45o )

Protection
Overall structure	N/A  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

MISTRAL ( MISsile TRansportable Anti-aérien Léger )
Type	Surface to Air missile
Specifications
Guidance	Infrared Homing
Warhead weight	2.95 kg
Diameter	90 mm
Maximum range	~6000 m
Flight speed	800 m/s ( ~ Mach 2.6 )

 

 

 

Sources

Spoiler

 

 

comoria.com

 

 

books.google.fr

 

 

books.google.fr

 

 

books.google.fr

 

 

ofrp.free.fr

 

 

 

 

 

Elise.

Edited March 19, 2019 by *Elise_DoumDoum
Page Layout / Mise en Page.

[leroyonly 4,311]

 

Spoiler

 

Hey Elise,

 

Thank you for the suggestion, however at the moment we aren't accepting pure SAM vehicle suggestions till at the very least we have developer confirmation that such vehicles will be introduced. Even more so for fire-and-forget type of SAM's instead of the player guided type that for example the tunguska is getting. Please do make a back-up of your suggestion incase this ever changes so you don't have to spend your time doing the same thing twice.

 

Due to the previous reasons, this topic will be locked and will remain visible for public viewing for the next 48 hours. After this time expires, the thread will be moved to a hidden archive and will no longer be publicly visible.

 

Answered & Locked. 

 

We recently reviewed our policy regarding SAM equiped vehicles, including fire and forget types. Due to this we now welcome the submission of that vehicle type as suggestions. Due to your suggestion being denied on base of the older policy not too long before this change, it was decided to bring it back and open it.

So without further ado,

 

Open for discussion. 

Edited March 7, 2019 by leroyonly

[*CaptDaisy97 520]

Oh that is great ^^.

[Milocat 4,857]

This would be a great SAM launcher.  +1.

[FouManchou 2,463]

On 01/03/2019 at 23:27, *Elise_DoumDoum said:

pushes in their last entrenchments

Featuring Neurchi de traductions littérales 

Other than that : sweet vehicle, so I'll +1 it ; yet I'm wondering how good it would be outside its SAM role... If it is added, then IR-seeking missiles probably will have to be made capable of targeting tanks in the first place, else it'll be useless if there are no air vehicles around.

[Atomeur 529]

Yes, it could be funny ;D

[_Pixy 196]

+1

[Nicholas_Concu 2,634]

+1 if Japan can have a speedy missile AA so can France.