France orders more Jaguar and Griffon armoured vehicles

The DGA has ordered 88 more Jaguar (pictured) and 302 additional Griffon 6×6 armoured vehicles from the engin blindé multi-rôle consortium between Nexter, Arquus, and Thales. (Nexter)

The Direction générale de l'armement (DGA), the French defence procurement agency, has ordered 88 more Jaguar 6×6 armoured reconnaissance vehicles and 302 additional Griffon 6×6 véhicule blindé multi-rôle (VBMR) heavy multirole armoured vehicles from the engin blindé multi-rôle (France‘s multirole armoured vehicle programme) consortium between Nexter, Arquus, and Thales.

The companies said in a joint press release on 10 May that this fourth tranche would bring the total number of Jaguars ordered to 150 and the Griffons to 909, in line with France‘s loi de programmation militaire (LPM) 2019–2025 military funding programme.

The DGA plans to have 300 Jaguars and 1,872 Griffons by 2030, with LPM 2019–2025 foreseeing 50% of this number being delivered by 2025. This includes 54 Griffon Mortier embarqué pour l'appui au contact (MEPAC) self-propelled 120 mm mortar carriers, which were recently ordered and are expected to be delivered from 2024.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced during a visit to Nexter‘s Roanne plant in February that the contracts for the additional Jaguars and Griffons and the 54 MEPACs would be signed, with a value of EUR1.2 billion (USD1.26 billion).

Along with the Serval véhicule blindé multi-rôle léger (VBMR-L) 4×4 light multirole armoured vehicle, the first four of which were delivered on 5 May, the Jaguar and Griffon are being developed under France‘s SCORPION army transformation programme.

The Serval and Griffon are replacing the Véhicule de l'avant blindé (VAB) armoured vehicles and the Jaguar is replacing the AMX-10RC and ERC Sagaie 6×6 armoured reconnaissance vehicles, as well as the VAB HOT anti-armour vehicle.