Following the contract notified in 2018, French companies Nexter and Texelis announced on May 5, 2022, the first of the SERVAL s 4x4 light multi-role armoured vehicles (VBMR) to the French ministry of the Armed Forces. According to the delivery plan, 70 cars will be delivered by the end of 2022, out of a total of 364 SERVALs ordered to date by the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA).
Nexter, a French company, is responsible for
producing the vehicle, while Texelis is in charge of delivering the entire
vehicle driveline for integration with Nexter's technologies for SERVAL. The
SERVAL will have high mobility
capabilities thanks to the Texelis solution, allowing it to respond to the highly
demanding and restrictive environment in which the French Army's vehicle fleet
operates on today's battlefield while also providing advanced protection and
enhanced strategic and tactical mobility.
The SERVAL
is a 15-ton multi-role armoured vehicle that integrates various
equipment common to other vehicles of the Scorpion program, especially the
electronic core, a turret remotely operated from the passenger compartment,
threat sensors and the SICS, which enables it to be integrated into the
Scorpion systems network. It can reach a maximum of 600 km and a maximum speed
of 90 km/hour.
The Scorpion Program has been deemed the most
ambitious military program in the recent history of French land forces.
It is a $6.8 billion multi-company modernisation
initiative to replace all French frontline fighting vehicles with better
platforms linked to new and unified communications and the Battlefield
Management System (BMS). This BMS is underpinned by “collaborative combat,”
which seeks to connect squads, vehicles, battle groups, and brigades in a
single network.
The Scorpion includes the delivery of new
wheeled armoured vehicles to replace the entire family of VAB wheeled armoured
vehicles and AMX-10RC and VAB HOT anti-tank vehicles in service with the French
army. The Scorpion program also includes the modernisation of the Main Battle
Tank Leclerc and the integration of the VBCI, 8x8 armoured Infantry Fighting
Vehicles for French army mechanised infantry units. The design of the
SERVAL is standard for modern 4x4
armoured vehicles with the engine at the front, crew in the middle and troops
or cargo area at the rear.
The crew compartment has a big window in the
front and one single door on either hull.
The SERVAL
will have two crews and can transport up to eight military personnel.
The infantrymen enter and exit the vehicle
through two doors positioned at the hull’s back.
