ERC 90 Sagaie

The ERC 90 is a light armored vehicle with 6 wheels, armed with a 90-mm gun. With good mobility terrestrial and watery, it can fight in contaminated atmosphere and is transportable by air by Transall. It is intended for safe reconnaissance missions in traditional or nuclear environments. It is equiped to carry out anti-tank missions. The case and turret consist of tack welded steel plates: field of fire in direction: 360° field of fire in height: -8° with +15° pointing in site and layer ensured by electric drives. Direction is provided by observation glasses and firing direction by a laser system of telemetry.

Renault and Panhard submitted designs to fulfill a 1970s French Army requirement for new 4x4 and 6x6 amphibious armored fighting vehicles. While Panhard lost out on the French Army defense contract, the company proceeded to revise its design as a private venture into a whole new line of armored vehicles meant for export. The new product became the "ERC 90" six-wheeled armored vehicle with the primary version mounting a powerful 90mm cannon in a 360-traversing turret. The type's formal name was "Panhard ERC 90" - "ERC" for "Engin de Reconnaissance a Canon de 90mm"). First vehicles were delivered to Argentine marine forces as the "ERC 90 F1" with these fitting a Hispano-Suiza "Lynx" 90mm main gun in the turret - the same as utilized by the Panhard AML four-wheeled armored car series.

The core qualities of the Panhard ERC 90 were its all-terrain value as well as the inherent long-range, hard-hitting main gun offering. The crew of three rode in relative comfort under protection from small arms fire and artillery spray while the vehicle could traverse some unforgiving frontier terrain. Armor protection was 10mm at its thickest (construction of steel) which was something of a detriment for a military vehicle under direct contact.

However, the ERC 90 was primarily designed around speed and mobility as primary focuses while in the armed reconnaissance role. Its battlefield value - such as that offered through its 90mm main gun - was therefore a secondary bonus in many cases. The main gun was supplemented by 2 x 7.62mm machine guns for anti-infantry and anti-aircraft defense - the first coaxially-mounted in the turret while the second being an optional installation on the turret roof. The vehicle displaced at 9.15 tons and featured a running length of 25 feet with a width of 8.2 feet and a height of 7.4 feet. The side profile of the ERC 90 was dominated by its six large road wheels to each hull side while the front-most pair were steered under power assistance and mounted noticeable further ahead from the latter pair.