Editing VCAC Mephisto (section)

==History==
Class: Tank Destroyer</br>
Developed: 1980s</br>
Service: 1990+</br>
Vehicles Built: 177</br>
Operators: France, Qatar, Cyprus, Lebanon

The Mephisto name officially stands for “Module Elévateur Panoramique HOT Installé Sur Tourelle Orientable” but let’s face it; in reality, someone just really wanted to have a vehicle called Mephisto and had to justify it somehow. Either way, it is an anti-tank version of the ubiquitous French VAB AFV.

The AFV itself is a rather unremarkable product of the 1970s but its roots lie deep in the 1960s when the French decided that their infantry units would be equipped with both tracked APCs (resulting in the AMX-10P) and wheeled ones. Two companies competed for the future light wheeled AFV project, now called VAB (“Vehicule de l’Avant Blindé”), Panhard and Renault. Between 1972 and 1973, several prototypes of 4-wheeled and 6-wheeled vehicles were built by both companies and in May 1974, the 4x4 version by Renault was officially accepted in service under the designation VAB. Its mass-production started in 1976. Several thousand of them were built between 1976 and 1993 both for France (3.975 vehicles in various configurations) and for export, which included a 6-wheel variant.

One of the variants produced both for France and for Export was called VCAC (“Véhicule de Combat Anti-Char” – Anti-Tank Combat Vehicle) and was fitted with the Euromissile Mephisto turret armed with four HOT missiles. This was a dedicated tank killer, replacing the troop-carrying capacity with a massive loading system.

It is unclear as to when the production of this vehicle started, when it ended and how many were made. Various sources suggest that the vehicle is still in service in France (scheduled to be replaced by another platform in the next decade) with some 135 made for the French. Qatar allegedly operates 24 of these, Cyprus has 18 and around a dozen originally French vehicles were sold recently to Lebanon. The VAB itself participated in a large number of peacekeeping missions (wherever the French were involved) and the Mephisto allegedly participated in Operation Desert Storm.