Eurosatory 2016: French Army's Griffon 6x6 makes its debut

[Vergennes]

The French Army's new Griffon 6x6 armoured personnel carrier (APC) was unveiled for the first time at Eurosatory 2016 in Paris on 13 June.

The Griffon is the mainstay of the French Army's Scorpion (Synergie du contact renforcée par la polyvalence et l'infovalorisation) modernisation programme, with some 1,722 vehicles being planned to be bought to replace the ageing Véhicule de l'Avant Blindé (VAB) 4x4.

Griffon has been developed by a French industry consortium (known as the GME) of Nexter Systems, Renault Trucks Defense (RTD), and Thales. Of these, Nexter is responsible for the vehicle's armour solutions, RTD its drive systems and remote weapon station (RWS) and Thales its vehicle architecture and vehicle electronics (vectronics).

A concept image for Griffon was first unveiled by the GME in late 2014 when the consortium was awarded the contract for the Griffon vehicle (for the Véhicule Blindé MultiRole - VBMR programme), however this is the first time a physical example of the vehicle has been demonstrated.

Griffon is designed to have a modular vehicle architecture and has a maximum gross vehicle weight (GVW) of 24.5 tonnes and is designed to carry up to 10 personnel (in its troop transport variant). It is 7.5 m long, 2.62 m high and 2.55 m wide. Griffon is powered by a 400 hp Volvo engine, linked to an automatic gear box.

In total there are five main variants of the Griffon planned: troop transport (1,022 of which will be built); command-and-control (333); ambulance (196); artillery observation (117); and engineer and recovery (54). The troop transport and engineer vehicles will have a further seven subvariants: four transport (FELIN troop carrier; 81 mm mortar team carrier; sniper carrier; and anti-tank team carrier) and three engineer (engineer and recovery; response team carrier; and refuelling). Even counting these subvariants, Griffon should significantly reduce the level of complexity involved in supporting the fleet, compared to that required to sup

http://www.janes.com/article/61243/eurosatory-2016-french-army-s-griffon-6x6-makes-its-debut
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@Taygibay What a fancy thing !
Imagine ourselves in 30 years talking about the VAB to the future generations... they'll tell us 'What the f*ck is this antiquity!!?'

 

[Taygibay]

MDR Bien d'accord, tiens! Fully agreed there!

Bonjour chez vous mec, Tay.