Panhard AML-90

The Panhard AML-90 (Auto Mitrailleuse Légère, or "Light Machine Gun Car”) is the French built armoured car, designed on a small, lightly armoured, 4×4 chassis, fitted with a DEFA D921 90mm main gun which would not look out of place on a tank! The AML entered service in 1960 at the hight of the Cold War with the intent of fighting a rearguard action while the heavier tanks and armoured fighting vehicles were deployed at the front.  As it was anticipated that Soviet paratroopers would deploy with their own artillery and armour, deep behind Allied lines, the AML’s 90mm gun was added to make it capable of knocking out the heaviest Soviet airborne self propelled guns (ASU-57 and ASU-85) likely to be encountered.

The Panhard AML-90 with a DEFA D921 90mm main gun 

Outside of its Cold War duties, the AML has seen deployment in Angola, Iraq, Chad, and the Lebanese Civil War, and specific to my build, the AML-90 also made a brief appearance in the Falklands War, when 12 were landed at Puerto Argentino / Stanley, as part of Operation Rosario with the Argentine Armoured Cavalry Exploration Squadron 10 & 181.

The sum total of parts with a resin model kit

While the AML-90’s impressive fire power made it exceptionally well-armed in proportion to its weight, unlike its British counterpart, the tracked FV101 Scorpion, it was ill suited to the boggy conditions of the Falkland Islands, and so once the Argentines landed their AMLs at Port Stanley, they could venture no further. Indeed, their only action of the war took place at the Battle of Wireless Ridge, in the final days, when on 13 June, they took up defensive positions in an attempt to halt the Blues & Royals squadrons’ Scimitars and Scorpions advancing into Port Stanley. 

Wireless Ridge was one of seven strategic hills within five miles of Stanley that the British had to take in order to liberate the Island's capital. The success of this offensive and the simultaneous attack on Mount Tumbledown, resulted on 14 June in the fall of Port Stanley, the surrender of the Argentine forces and the return of the Falklands to British sovereignty.

Argentine Panhard and British Scorpion side by side on the modelling mat 

My AML-90 build is a bit of a unique one. I could not source a traditional plastic kit and so had to spread my net wider and into the unchartered area of resin kits. After an extensive search, I came upon the French company, Model-Miniature, specialising in French armoured vehicles in resin form. I must admit, I will not be rushing to make another resin kit but for the AML-90 it ticked the box in providing me a closer look at this Argentine armour and a much needed addition to my Port Stanley diorama, to follow.

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The model

Brand: Model Miniature
Title: PANHARD AML-90
Number: MM-R068
Scale: 1:72
Released: | Initial release - new tool