The Ministry of the Armed Forces plans to order an additional 130 armored vehicles, 38 Jaguars and 92 Griffons, to replace the AMX-10 light tanks and front armored vehicles (VAB) ceded to Ukraine.
In an amendment to the military programming bill (LPM) 2024-2030 presented before the examination of the text in session of the National Assembly, the government plans to have 238 Jaguar in stock by 2030, armored reconnaissance and combat vehicles equipped with a 40 mm cannon, against 200 provided for in a first version of the text.
Similarly, it now expects a total of 1,437 Griffon tanks in 2030, up from the 1,345 initially forecast. By the end of 2023, the Army is expected to have 60 Jaguars and 575 Griffons.
“Replacement with equivalent skills”
France has donated several dozen since January – it declines to specify the exact number – of AMX-10 armored vehicles, reconnaissance vehicles equipped with a cannon and VAB troop transport vehicles.
The replacement of these old armored vehicles, which were beginning to be gradually withdrawn from service, is not done on the basis of a one-to-one relationship, it was said in the entourage of the Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu. This is a “replacement by equivalent capabilities to preserve the format of the armies in order to comply with operational contracts,” according to this source.
“The rate of delivery of these additional armored vehicles will be done with the concern of limiting the load peaks of the affected manufacturers and in coherence with the delivery of auxiliary equipment (such as infrastructure),” the Government specifies in the statement that explains its modification. . . .
The military programming bill provides 413.3 billion euros in resources for the armies between 2024 and 2030. To increase the effort in certain key areas, the Government has planned to stagger the delivery of numerous materials. The final fleet of 300 Jaguars and 1,818 Griffons is now planned for 2035, compared to 2030 planned by the previous LPM.
Source: BFM TV
