France ramps up Serval armored vehicle deliveries, eyes 2030 goal

The French Directorate General of Armaments (Direction générale de l’armement DGA) announced on 7 March that it delivered another eight VBMR-L (Véhicule Blindé Multi-Rôles Léger) Serval lightweight multirole armored vehicles. Meanwhile, the 200th vehicle of this type was scheduled to join the army's equipment on 29 January. This indicates a slight acceleration in the deliveries of these vehicles recently.

As of 19 September 2023, the military had 150 units. However, this is just the beginning, as a total of 2,038 units are expected to be in service by 2030. For this year, the entry into service of 103 vehicles is planned.

The vehicles are being handed over to soldiers in several versions, including patrol, communications and electronic warfare, reconnaissance, ambulance, and command vehicle. They complement the Griffons VBMR and Jaguars EBRC. At the same time, they will replace the nearly fifty-year-old wheeled armored personnel carriers Véhicule de l’avant blindé (VAB). For this reason, they are primarily intended for the 1st Parachute Brigade and the 27th Mountain Infantry Brigade.

The latest agreement regarding the Serval was signed on 1 February. Under it, Nexter Systems and Texelis have committed to produce and deliver 420 units. The Ministry of the Armed Forces will pull £410 million (about $548.5 million) from the pocket of the French taxpayer for this purpose. Funds for the purchase of vehicles were secured through the military programming law (Loi de programmation militaire, LPM) for the years 2024-2030.

In this batch, the vehicle in the electronic warfare (EW) variant will be delivered. So far, vehicles in the armored transporter, command vehicle, technical support vehicle, ambulance, ISTAR vehicle (intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance), and tactical communication node versions have been delivered or contracted. Servals will also serve as carriers of anti-tank guided missiles Akeron MP and anti-aircraft vehicles with the VSHORAD missile system.

The serial production of the Serval started more than three years ago. In 2022, the French military received 60 vehicles, and over the next year, 129. Deliveries were made based on a contract for the production of 489 units. This means that for the two years remaining until the end of the contract, the contractors are faced with the necessity of delivering another 289 vehicles, thus a number half larger than that which has been delivered to the customer.

In September 2022, the Servals underwent operational and tactical evaluation in Djibouti. The trials were attended by members of the 5th Overseas Interarms Regiment (5e Régiment Interarmes d'Outre-Mer, 5RIAOM) along with the Joint Training and Logistics Support Center – 51st Infantry Regiment (Centre d’Entraînement InterArmes et du soutien Logistique – 51e Régiment d’Infanterie, CENTIAL-51e RI). The purpose of this unit is to check the proper functioning of the received armored vehicles and to provide "first training" for their future users. In Djibouti, the behavior of the vehicles in a demanding desert environment with high dust levels was tested.

These tests were necessary considering the traditional environment of the Armee de terre’s operations, which are the Sub-Saharan Africa regions. The focus was primarily on the Serval’s electronic systems, including the Scorpion battlefield management system (SIC-S, Système d'information du combat Scorpion – Scorpion).

Depending on the version as well as the equipment and armament, the Servals weigh between 15 to 17 tonnes. It can accommodate up to nine (including two crew members) fully equipped soldiers with elements of the FÉLIN (Fantassin à Équipements et Liaisons Intégrés) future soldier system. They are equipped with an acoustic shot detection system, Scorpion combat management system, and a remotely controlled weapon module mounted on the cabin roof with a 7.62-mm machine gun, 12.7-mm heavy machine gun, or 40-mm automatic grenade launcher. It also features a Galix-type smoke grenade launcher.

In June 2023, it also became the first vehicle to display a new tactical camouflage, CAM.TAC, presented at the Mourmelon le Grand military base, about 150 kilometres west of Paris. It was made exclusively of sections of equilateral triangles intertwined with each other, creating segmented geometric compositions to break up the shape of the vehicle.

Although geometric shapes do not occur in the natural environment, as the distance increases, angles blur. This increases the time needed for identification and targeting through optical detection systems. It is planned to introduce three types of camouflage: European, desert, and for combat in snowy environments. Urban camouflage is not planned.

Although Paris is proud of receiving 200 vehicles of this type, the reality does not seem overly optimistic. Just consider the degree of delivery completion, when by the end of 2025 (less than two years), another 289 vehicles need to be provided to the military. Only at the end of 2023, two versions of the Serval passed qualification tests, which opened the way for serial production and acceptance by the military.

The vehicles concern Artillery Observation Vehicles (VOA, version observation d’artillerie) and armored ambulances (SAN). VBMR-L in the SAN version (their equivalents are also being developed based on the Griffons) are essential to ensure the readiness of the Military Health Service (Service de Santé des Armées, SSA) to perform medical support tasks on the battlefield during warfare. By 2030, the French land forces are to have 135 Serval sanitary versions, which means the need to deliver more than 20 vehicles per year. Currently, military medics use the VAB Sanitaire.

Although the level of order fulfillment for Servals is far from ideal, the expansion of the facility in Roanne, where these vehicles are manufactured, is expected to bring positive effects in accelerating their production, but also in improving the availability of other vehicles. Everything is in the hands of the still much-praised French war economy.