List of Cold War weapons and land equipment of France

This is a list of weapons of the French Army during the Cold War. During the early period of the Cold War France was fighting colonial wars such as the First Indochina War and the Algerian War the same as other colonial powers of the time like Britain and the Netherlands. Despite France withdrawing from NATO in 1966 it did still cooperate with NATO and made plans to reinforce NATO with French Army units against a Soviet invasion as can be seen from the formation of the Rapid Action Force which was intended to reinforce NATO troops in the event of a conflict.

Small arms

Rifles

• MAS-36 rifle- Used in World War II by France equipped second line units.
• MAS-49 rifle- Semiauto rifle and main French service rifle of Cold War.
• FAMAS-Automatic bullpup Replaced MAS 49 and MAT 49 in 1978.

Sniper rifles

• FR F2 sniper rifle- Replaced FR F1 near the end of the Cold War.

Sidearms

• Pistolet automatique modèle 1935A-Standard French sidearm of World War II.
• Pistolet automatique modèle 1935S- French WWII era sidearm.
• MAC Mle 1950- Main French sidearm of the Cold War.

Machine guns

• FM 24/29 light machine gun- Standard French light machine gun of World War II.
• AA-52 machine gun- Standard French machine gun during Cold War.

Submachine guns

• MAT-49- Standard French machine gun of the Cold War.

Anti-tank weapons

• Super Bazooka
• LRAC F1-Replaced Super Bazooka in the 1970s.
• MILAN

Mortars

• Brandt Mle 27/31
• Brandt Mle 1935
• M2 mortar

Artillery

Self propelled

• M41 Howitzer Motor Carriage

Armoured fighting vehicles(AFV's)

Tanks

• AMX-30

Light tanks

• M24 Chaffee
• AMX-13

Armoured cars

• Panhard EBR
• Panhard AML
• AMX-10 RC

Infantry fighting vehicles(IFV's)

• AMX-VCI
• AMX-10P

Armoured personnel carriers(APC's)

• Véhicule de l'Avant Blindé