French Ground Force receives additional Griffon armored vehicles in artillery observation and APC variants.

By a tweet posted on October 3, 2023, the DGA (Directorate General of Armament) announced that, in September, it had received and delivered to the French Ground Force (arlée de Terre) the 6th Griffon in the artillery observation vehicle variant (VOA, Véhicule d’Observation d’artillerie), as well as 7 Griffons in the Armored Personnel Carrier variant.
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Griffon in the artillery observation vehicle variant (VOA, Véhicule d’Observation d’artillerie) (Picture source: Twitter account of the DGA)

The Griffon program of the French ground forces aims to replace a significant portion of the army's armored vehicle fleet by introducing new, versatile, and modern combat vehicles to meet the needs of the French armed forces in the 21st century. Designed by KNDS (ex-Nexter), Arquus and Thales, the VBMR Griffon, which stands for "Véhicule Blindé Multi-Rôles" or Armored Multi-Role Vehicle, is designed to replace the 2,700 old VAB troop transport vehicles and is equipped with a range of advanced protection systems, modern communications, and improved combat capabilities. It can carry up to eight soldiers and is suitable for a variety of missions, from troop transport to reconnaissance and fire support.

Equipped with a 400 HP engine coupled to an automatic gearbox, independent running gear and 6-wheel drive, the Griffon allows great tactical mobility. With a GVW of 24.5 tonnes, it can reach a speed of 90 km/h. The axles and reduction gears of the Griffon driveline were specially developed by Arquus and also equip the EBRC Jaguar, another vehicle in the French Ground Force's SCORPION Program, along with the Serval.

Taking into account the support constraints upstream of development made it possible to ensure the mobility of the Griffon very good maintainability with, among other things: diagnosis of the main equipment using the test case, removal/installation of the Powertrain in less than 4h.

The Griffon armored vehicle truly represents a technological and operational leap forward for the GTIA (Inter-Arms Tactical Group) vehicles. It presents a significantly improved level of protection, whether against ballistic threats or mines and improvised explosive devices (IED), with more efficient armor, a reùote weapon station and latest generation sensors. Capable of collecting all data from its environment and transforming it into combat information and equipped with decision support tools in the face of threats, the new Griffon vehicles are at the forefront of collaborative combat as we enter the world. era of infovaluation.

Griffon in APC variant (Picture source: Twitter account of the DGA)

Defense News October 2023