French Defense Minister Florence Parly to receive first VBMR Griffon armored vehicles.

On July 4, Mrs Florence Parly, French minister of Defense, will visit the French armored vehicles manufacturer Nexter in its Satory plant for the official reception of the first 6x6 multi-role armored vehicles designated VBMR Griffon.

VBMR Griffon (Picture source: French MoD)

The Military Programming Law (Loi de Programmation Militaire, LPM) 2019-2025 provides for the renewal of the operational capabilities of the French forces. Under the contracting authority of the Directorate General of Armaments (DGA), the Griffon, within the Scorpion program, is produced by a temporary grouping of companies (Groupement Momentané d'Entreprises, GME) formed by Nexter, Arquus and Thales.

The Griffon is one of the three key new vehicles of the Scorpion programme, along with the Jaguar and the Serval (not mentioning the modernized Leclerc MBT), which renews the armored range of the ground force (Armée de Terre). 92 units will be delivered at the end of 2019 in accordance with the LPM (1,872 units in total are foreseen). The Griffon must eventually succeed to the VAB 6x6 (Véhicule de l'Avant Blindé) APC currently in use. Robust and versatile, the Griffon will notably improve the protection of soldiers engaged in combat with more efficient shielding, a remote-operated turret and latest generation sensors.

The vehicle is based on a 6×6 commercial all-terrain truck chassis and can carry up to eight fully equipped infantrymen. The consortium building the "Griffon" and "Jaguar" is contractually obliged to keep the price per Griffon under €1 million. Currently, six versions of the Griffon are planned, with four of these (armored personnel carrier, command post, ambulance, and artillery observer) ordered in the first tranche. The vehicles are designed for simple maintenance and logistics. For example, Griffon and Jaguar both use standard commercial truck engines, which have been adapted to use a wider range of fuel.

The Belgian ground forces become closely associated with their French counterpart through the CaMo (Capacité Motorisée, Motorized Capacity) programme and will operate the Griffon and the Jaguar in the framework of an identical doctrine, as reminded in a previous story published on Army Recognition.