The South African licence-built AML in its final mark: power brakes, a modified transmission, a lengthened hull, a domed cupola with vision blocks and the engine on a rail frame for quick field changes, on a water-cooled 2.5-litre Chevrolet 153 four in place of the French air-cooled flat-four. 5.12 m long, 2.01 m wide, 6 tonnes, 100 km/h and 450 km, in the Eland-90 with a 90 mm gun and the Eland-60 with a 60 mm gun-mortar.
BASE VEHICLEPanhard AML (1960–87)BUILT BYSandock-AustralIN SERVICE1979–86OPERATED INSouth Africa, Zimbabwe, MoroccoPRODUCTIONPart of about 1,600 Elands built from 1964LAYOUT4 wheels · 98.4″
The record
South Africa licensed the AML from Panhard in 1961 and built about 1,600 between 1964 and 1986. The Mk5 brought the local water-cooled engine and up to two-thirds local content; the Mk6 upgraded earlier cars to it, and the Mk7 of 1979 was the last. Eland-90s went into Angola in October 1975, where their crews were nicknamed the Red Ants, and fought again in Operations Protea (1981) and Askari (1983); Rhodesia ran 30 to 60 Eland-90s from 1975. The Ratel and then the Rooikat replaced them, and the South African Defence Force retired its Elands in 1994.
ENGINEChevrolet 153 2.5-litre water-cooled inline-four petrolChevrolet 153 four
PRODUCTION RUNPart of about 1,600 Elands built from 1964
COUNTRY OF ORIGINSouth Africa
OPERATED INSouth Africa, Zimbabwe, Morocco
STATUSretired from South African service in 1994
RECORD KINDNamed model
MODEL LINEAML
FAMILYAML
WHEELS4
NOMINAL WHEELBASE98.4″
BODY STYLE90
CATEGORYMilitary · South Africa
Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.
AML-90 (90 mm gun turret)
