The French armaments industry, suppressed during the German occupation, revived quickly after the war. By 1946 work had begun on a range of vehicles, including the AMX-13 which first appeared in 1952. In many respects it was a revolutionary design. In attempting to fit a long gun into a short tank the French were obliged to locate the turret behind the engine, which is an unusual arrangement even today. To keep the profile as low as possible a Saviem, eight-cylinder horizontally-opposed engine was used and the entire tank was designed for crew members no more than 1.7m tall.

The 13.7-tonne (empty) AMX-13 was intended to be air-portable although no aircraft capable of lifting it was designed for a further 20 years. The AMX-13 was an immediate success; over the years it has served with the armies of at least 20 countries (and is still operational today in Argentina, Cambodia, Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Ecuador, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore and Venezuela). It has undergone many modifications and improvements while the chassis has formed the basis for an entire family of armoured vehicles.

The gun is a development of the 75mm L/70 of the German Panther. It is mounted in an oscillating turret, the top half of which elevates and depresses while the lower half rotates. In the bustle, at the rear of the turret, is an automatic loading device linked to a pair of six-round magazines. Thus no human loader is required so space and weight are saved. However, once those 12 rounds have been fired the tank must withdraw from action to reload its magazines. No other country has ever used an oscillating tank turret except on experimental prototypes. From 1966 the 75mm high-velocity gun was replaced by a 90mm medium-velocity gun firing more effective HEAT ammunition, with the French upgrading all existing base models to this specification. By the early 1970s export models were available with an even more potent 105mm gun.

Although there were many variants on the turret the basic chassis was almost unchanged until 1985 when changes including a new diesel engine, fully automatic transmission and new hydropneumatic suspension were introduced. Some 7,700 were built before manufacture ended in 1985. Seen at the Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset, England.

"Unleash the Thrills: Dive into the World of Precision and Performance with the Porsche 718 Boxster! ️✨ Explore the Perfect Fusion of Style, Speed, and Innovation in Every Curve. #PorschePassion #BoxsterAdventure #LuxuryCars #RevolutionaryDesign #SpeedMeetsElegance #InnovationInMotion #PorscheJourney #718BoxsterExperience #UltimateDrivingExperience #DreamCarGoals #PerformanceRedefined #FlickrMarketing"