Light armoured vehicles By Paolo Valpolini
The demonstrator of the Scarabée seen during Arquus’ TechnoDays 2019; we can clearly see the two steering axles. © Arquus
This article was to be an appetiser to the many new vehicles of the light armoured category that we were expecting to be seen in Paris during Eurosatory. Unfortunately 2020 will see very few defence exhibitions running, so we tried to provide our readers with the latest on some well known vehicles and on some novelties that might appear soon. Among the starring Light Armoured Vehicles (LAVs) expected in Paris the Serval, the light member of the French Army Scorpion programme, under development by Nexter and Texelis,, would have certainly be among the stars, however weStrike will(IDS) all have some more time to see it in real. The Interdiction/Deep variantto of wait the Luftwaffe’s Tornado multi-role strike aircraft will be replaced from 2025. © USAF
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emaining in the hexagon, Arquus, part of the Volvo Group, is definitely the main French LAV producer, its portfolio including the Dagger and Sherpa Light. In late May 2020 the company rolled-out the 1,000 Sherpa vehicle, considering Light and Medium versions. Looking at legacy products, the French Army still employs numerous Véhicule Blindé Léger (VBL). Some
800 should be refurbished/upgraded to the VBL Ultima standard, which includes among others the repair and maintenance of part of the automotive components, the replacement of others, and the upgrade of the vehicle protection with add-on kits, the programme having been designed following lessons learned during recent deployments downrange. The production chain was inaugurated in December 2019, the first four EDR | July/August 2020
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