On Saturday, February 8, 2025, the French Minister of the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs, Sébastien Lecornu, announced on social media that the Directorate General for Armament (DGA – Direction générale de l’Armement) has placed an order with KNDS France (part of the Franco-German joint venture KNDS) for another batch of 530 VBMR-L Serval light wheeled multi-role armored vehicles, previously designated as Léger VBMR (Véhicule Blindé Multi-Rôles). The contract is valued at over 1 billion EUR.
Photo: Sébastien Lecornu via X
Deliveries are scheduled for 2025-2031 and are part of the SCORPION program (Synergie du Contact Renforcée par la Polyvalence et l’infovalorisation). The contract is funded under the Military Planning Law (Loi de programmation militaire, LPM) for 2024-2030.
The previous order for 420 units, worth 500 million EUR, was placed on February 1, 2024. At that time, Texelis was one of the contracting parties. However, KNDS France is now in talks to acquire the Texelis Défense division, which is planned to be spun off. As seen in this case, this also implies taking over part of Texelis’ contracts. Until now, Texelis has supplied gearboxes and power transmission systems, while KNDS France has been responsible for design, integration, production, and technical support. Among the subcontractors involved in the project are Bertin, Metravib Acoem, Safran, Saint-Gobain Sully, Akira Technologies, Focast, ACGB, TRA-C Industries, Elno, IRTS, Hutchinson SMC, and Michelin.
VBMR-L Serval
In October 2018, the French Ministry of the Armed Forces announced the successful completion of field trials for 10 prototypes. Further tests conducted in 2020 helped examine the wear rates of vehicle components. Serial production of the VBMR-L Serval began on January 15, 2021. In 2022, the contractors delivered the first 60 units to the customer, followed by another 129 vehicles in 2023. These deliveries were carried out under a contract for the production of 489 units, scheduled for completion by 2025. According to long-term plans, a total of 2,038 Serval vehicles are expected to be purchased by 2035.
The 15- or 17-ton VBMR-L Serval multi-role armored vehicle can transport up to 10 fully equipped soldiers (including 2 crew members) with elements of the FÉLIN (Fantassin à Équipements et Liaisons Intégrés) future soldier system.
The platform is designed for the integration of various specialized variants, including an armored personnel carrier, command vehicle, artillery command vehicle, repair vehicle, ambulance, ISTAR vehicle (intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance), tactical communication center, electronic warfare (EW) vehicle, as well as the two latest variants ordered on January 28:
- DSA (défense aérienne) – equipped with the MBDA Atlas-RC turret system for Mistral 3 surface-to-air missiles, designed for short-range air defense, with 30 units ordered.
- LAD (l’autre pour la lutte antidrone) – featuring the KNDS France ARX-30 NEROD turret with a 30mm 30M781 automatic cannon, along with autonomous detection systems including radar and a radio frequency detector for countering unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), with 24 units ordered.
The VBMR-L Serval vehicles are being deployed to reconnaissance units, while the specialized variants mentioned above are assigned to specialized regiments. They are replacing the VAB (Véhicule de l’Avant Blindé) amphibious wheeled armored personnel carriers, which have been in service since 1974.
The VBMR-L Serval is part of the new-generation vehicle fleet of the French Army (Armée de Terre). They complement the 1,872 Griffon VBMR wheeled armored personnel carriers and 300 Jaguar EBRC (Engin Blindé de Reconnaissance et de Combat) wheeled reconnaissance combat vehicles, which are planned for procurement.
https://twitter.com/SebLecornu/status/1888151162492531181