France To Order 150 Additional Griffon Armoured Vehicles

France is likely to order 150 additional VBMR Griffon multi-role armoured vehicles, Florence Parley, Minister of the Armed Forces of France said on July 4, during the ceremony held to accept the delivery of first of the ordered 1,722 VBMR 6x6 Griffon vehicles.

“Concerning the Griffon, it will be 150 more vehicles that will be ordered, to reach 1872 copies by 2030,” Parley said.

The Griffon is one of the three key new vehicles of the “Scorpion programme” launched in 2014, along with the Jaguar and the Serval. They are intended to replace the army’s 2,661-strong Véhicule de l’avant blindé (VAB) fleet, which has been in service since 1978.

According to the Army's 2020 Defense White Paper, it had originally planned to buy up to 2,122 VBMR vehicles (1,722 VBMR 6x6 Griffon and 400 VBMR 4x4 vehicles) between 2018 and 2025. The additional order for 150 more will take the total to 1,872 6x6 Griffon vehicles.

92 units are expected to be delivered to France by the end of this year. She announced that the first Jaguar vehicle will be delivered to France in 2020. The Serval, which is a light, 4-wheel variant of the VBMR will be delivered by 2022.

According to the minister, half of first ordered armoured vehicles will be delivered to the army by 2025. “By 2025, 50% of vehicles of the Scorpion program will be delivered to the Army,” she said.

A consortium of Nexter, Thales, and Renault Trucks Defense is building the Griffon 6x6 vehicles. The consortium is contractually obliged to keep the price per Griffon under Euro 1 million $1.1 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.