Particulars
France has, since 1935, engaged in the manufacture and use of a prolific line of wheeled armored reconnaissance vehicles armed with weapons with an anti-tank capability. This being the result of reforms initiated by the Light Mechanized Divisions (DLM).
French tactical doctrine required reconnaissance elements to cover and range over a large and extensive battlefield, especially within the context of the slow and high maintenance tanks of the time. Also of note is the way that tanks are best deployed, massed and concentrated, which prevents their dispersion for safety and for screening.
So it is a particular trait with French reconnaissance vehicles to be heavily armed. From the prewar MD 178 armed with an anti-tank gun of 47 mm, (which was for the period a significant caliber for such a small vehicle) to the direct successor of the EBR, the AMX 10 RC, also used for wheeled reconnaissance, and armed with a powerful 105 mm gun with automatic firing, firepower equal to a main battle tank of the 1980s. A pattern repeated in the AML 90 and the ERC 90 Sagaie.
These reconnaissance systems are not only aimed at discovery and investigation (missions that can be fulfilled by lighter vehicles with lighter weapons), but also with security missions upon the battlefield (for example flank-security and offensive protection) which requires a substantial firepower not only to destroy the enemy advance elements, but also to oppose armoured incursions.
Read more about this topic: Panhard EBR
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