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To cope with the increasing IED (Improvised Explosive Device) threat today occurring in Afghanistan, the French Army ISAF contingent is now fielding on the battlefield the heavier up-armoured Panhard VBL The direct result of a crash programme launched in April 2006 after an ISAF VBL on patrol was seriously damaged by an IED near Kabul on 19 October 2005 and its crew badly injured by splinters, the new appliqué armour kit provides stronger lateral protection for the driver and passengers against blast, shrapnels and débris.

Conceived in a very short time by the Section Technique de l'Armée de Terre (STAT) in Angers, in close co-operation with Panhard-Auverland, the simple technical modification is aimed at improving point-blank protection against mines and other hidden explosives traps set close to the vehicle's route. The new appliqué armour is a simple bolt-on kit tailored to fit the VBL's structure without hurdle. The engineering support of the Franco-German Saint Louis Institute came as a bonus while developping the prototype appliqué armour kit tested under live fire at the Bourges centre of the DGA (the French national procurement agency). After a series of violent testings and twistings, the add-on armour fixture was finally certified last spring and a total of 50 kits ordered from Panhard in April 2006.

Delivered to the ISAF French Army at "Camp Warehouse" in Kabul, between July and September 2006, the extra protection kits have been gradually installed on all French VBLs directly at dépôt level by maintenance crews belonging to the “Pamir” expeditionnary force. Responsible for up-armouring all VBLs now on the Afghan theatre at field level, it took the regimental maintenance parties less than six months to beef up the Panhard VBLs deployed in the Kabul region and thus provide better protection to the VBL crews. [Kabul- 02-11-2007]