Fantassins. Le magazine d'information de l'infanterie, H 41 (2018)
This issue aims to provide a summary of what tomorrow will hold for the Infantry in the French Army SCORPION system. You will then find within it a lot of information relating to a complex program, its consequences in all fields (organization and training, support, equipment ...), as well as the thoughts resulting from this massive arrival of equipment for the years to come.
Serval prototypes completed, exports eyed for running chassis
New prototypes of the French Army’s latest 4×4 Vehicule Blinde Multi-Role – Light (VBMR-L) armoured fighting vehicle (AFV), now named Serval, are to soon be delivered.
Following a contract award in February 2018, the first Serval prototype was completed, and additional prototype vehicles are to follow later this year for trials.
Following trials with prototype Serval 4×4 vehicles, the first tranche of 108 are to be delivered to the French Army in 2022, 154 in 2023, 112 in 2024, and 115 in 2025, Jean Vandel, director of business development at Texelis, which is supplying the complete running chassis for the vehicle, said at the 2019 IQPC International Armoured Vehicles 2019 conference in London.
France’s Arquus confirmed that development and testing for its Hornet family of three remote weapon stations (RWSs) is soon to enter production for the French Army at the company’s Marolles facility.
The Hornet RWS family shares common elements to reduce through-life cycle costs, and is expected to become the largest RWS programme in Europe with over 2,000 expected to be built for the French Army alone.
All of these Hornet RWSs have common features including electrical firing, automatic cocking, round counter, and expended cartridge case and links recovery. They are connected to the electronic architecture of the platform and have an embedded simulation compatibility.
Details of the sensor package have not been released by the DGA. However, more generally, Arquus said the most sophisticated of this RWS family is the Hornet S, which weighs 165 kg, is fitted onto the roof of the Jaguar, and has a Safran Paseo gyro-stabilised high-definition (HD) colour day TV camera and thermal sight incorporating a laser rangefinder in the middle. The thermal camera has a continuous zoom from 1.9 to 15.2°.
A 7.62 mm machine gun (MG) is mounted to the right and provided with 550 rounds of ready-use ammunition; it can be laid onto the target while the platform is stationary or moving.
Dans le cadre du projet SCORPION, un groupe de combat de la 4e CCG, aux ordres du sergent Yohan a participé tout récemment au maquettage du véhicule blindé multi rôle léger (VBMR-LG) baptisé « SERVAL ». Ce véhicule blindé à 4 roues, d’environ 18 tonnes est le petit frère du GRIFFON. Cette mission a été réalisée au profit de la Section technique de l’armée de Terre (STAT).
Une maquette de l’engin, grandeur nature, a été réalisée par l’industriel. Le maquettage consiste à s’assurer que les emplacements prévus dans le SERVAL permettent l’emport de tous les lots et équipements du génie pour des missions de 24h.