The Véhicule Blindé Multi-Rôle Griffon ( English : Multirole Armoured Vehicle Griffon) or VBMR Griffon is a French six-wheel multi-purpose armoured personnel carrier developed and manufactured by KNDS France (formerly Nexter Systems ), Arquus (formerly Renault Trucks Defense ) and Thales . The vehicle entered service in 2019 and is, alongside the four-wheel VBMR-L Serval co-developed by KNDS France and Texelis , the successor of the Véhicule de l'Avant Blindé (VAB).
193-587: Components of the French SCORPION programme, the two vehicles are expected to fulfill a wide range of tasks and thus consist of several variants and subvariants. An on-board 120 mm mortar system based on the Griffon , designated Griffon MEPAC , has notably been developed. Furthermore, two distinct Serval -based air defence platforms are under development as of 2023; the Serval LAD , intended as
386-600: A 75 mm 12-pounder, and even a 105 mm gun. Erhardt also had a 12-pounder, while Vickers Maxim offered a 3-pounder and Schneider a 47 mm. The French balloon gun appeared in 1910, it was an 11-pounder but mounted on a vehicle, with a total uncrewed weight of two tons. However, since balloons were slow moving, sights were simple. But the challenges of faster moving aeroplanes were recognised. By 1913 only France and Germany had developed field guns suitable for engaging balloons and aircraft and addressed issues of military organisation. Britain's Royal Navy would soon introduce
579-484: A French company team or GTIA via the SICS combat information system. This facilitates the sharing of tactical information in real time, allowing every section to have a precise idea of the situation of friendly vehicles and enabling SCORPION Vehicle A (whether a Griffon , Serval , Jaguar or Leclerc XLR ) to engage a target identified by SCORPION Vehicle B. To rationalize development, production and maintenance costs,
772-461: A Thales MURIN ground observation radar and additionally integrates an electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) system. As for the Serval NCT , it is indicative of the efforts made to bring the theater network under armour and make it mobile. It will be based on four subvariants whose specificity will be to be able to communicate whether static (on-the-pause / OTP) or on the move (on-the-move / OTM). At
965-597: A casualty loading system comprising a mobile table and a lifting winch. The interior configuration can accommodate seated or lying patients, with a capacity of four stretchers. The SAN features all the elements common to other Griffon variants (mobility, armament, protection and connectivity). 196 units in total are to be delivered to the French Armed Forces Health Service and will be complemented by 135 Serval SAN and 103 VLTP-NP SAN vehicles. The Griffon VOA (artillery observation vehicle)
1158-515: A central box located behind the vehicle's driver. The maneuver is also closely linked to the SERUM ( Système d'Entretien et de Réparation Unique du Maintenancier ; English : Maintainer's Unique Maintenance and Repair System) cases developed by Arquus . This diagnostic tool takes the form of a computer which can be plugged into the vehicle to perform maintenance operations or identify faults. The VBMR Griffon , in its standard VTT Félin configuration,
1351-500: A countermeasure along the threat's trajectory, in order to destroy or degrade it sufficiently so that it can no longer perforate the vehicle's passive armor. The Griffon is designed to simplify maintenance. The vehicles are fitted with sensors on key components, such as suspension, brake pads and gearboxes, enabling predictive maintenance. The principle is to deploy Health and Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS) on these key functions to generate continuous data on vehicle activity. This data
1544-607: A dedicated counter-UAV vehicle, and the Serval Mistral (or Serval TCP ) for general V/SHORAD applications. In total, 1,818 VBMR Griffon , 2,038 VBMR-L Serval , 54 Griffon MEPAC as well as at least 85 Serval LAD and Serval Mistral/TCP are to be delivered to the French Army by 2035. Since the 2000s, the French Army had been looking to replace the emblematic VAB , which entered service in 1979. The vehicle
1737-645: A full military structure. For example, the UK's Anti-Aircraft Command, commanded by a full British Army general was part of ADGB. At its peak in 1941–42 it comprised three AA corps with 12 AA divisions between them. The use of balloons by the U.S. Army during the American Civil War compelled the Confederates to develop methods of combating them. These included the use of artillery, small arms, and saboteurs. They were unsuccessful, and internal politics led
1930-633: A hydraulic-powered elevation range of 40° to 85°. The Griffon MEPAC will be equipped with a computerized fire-control system , automatic laying system and inertial navigation system from Thales as well as a T2 Hornet Lite remotely-operated turret armed with a 7.62 mm machine gun and fitted with the GALIX . It will also be integrated into the ATLAS ( Automatisation des Tirs et Liaisons de l’Artillerie Sol/sol ; English : Automated firing and ground-to-ground artillery links) artillery system, while retaining
2123-451: A large traverse that could be easily transported on a wagon. Krupp 75 mm guns were supplied with an optical sighting system that improved their capabilities. The German Army also adapted a revolving cannon that came to be known to Allied fliers as the " flaming onion " from the shells in flight. This gun had five barrels that quickly launched a series of 37 mm artillery shells. As aircraft started to be used against ground targets on
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#17327937923962316-427: A laser designator, a TV day channel and a thermal camera providing the night channel (with their images able to be combined in low light conditions, especially during short winter days, at dawn or dusk). The optronic observation mast provides surveillance, artillery observation and designation, fire control and geolocation information, including for airstrikes with a JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controller). The Griffon VOA
2509-466: A laser rangefinder and three fixed daylight cameras with fields of view of 40°, 10° and 3°. Close to the human eye, the first is used to scan wide and provide an overall understanding of the situation. If something or someone catches his eye, the shooter can switch to the medium field and then concentrate on identifying the threat with the smaller field. The same goes for the thermal camera, this time with 14° and 7° fields. The rangefinder, meanwhile, provides
2702-466: A last one with a Griffon embarking a sniper section ( Griffon STE ). In addition, there is an artillery observation Griffon ( Griffon VOA ) as well as several trucks and light all-terrain vehicles. The Direction Générale de l'Armement (DGA), the French defense procurement agency, announced the Griffon' s qualification on June 24, 2019, enabling the first vehicles to be delivered on July 4, 2019. By
2895-543: A maritime force against attacks by airborne weapons launched from aircraft, ships, submarines and land-based sites". In some armies the term all-arms air defence (AAAD) is used for air defence by nonspecialist troops. Other terms from the late 20th century include "ground based air defence" (GBAD) with related terms " short range air defense " (SHORAD) and man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS). Anti-aircraft missiles are variously called surface-to-air missiles , ("SAMs") and surface-to-air guided weapons (SAGWs). Examples are
3088-639: A neo-classical castle and a small zoo ; the Parc de la Citadelle , built around impressive remains of the 17th-century fortress erected close to the Rhine by Vauban ; the Parc de Pourtalès , laid out in English style around a baroque castle (heavily restored in the 19th century) that now houses a small three-star hotel, and featuring an open-air museum of international contemporary sculpture. The Jardin botanique de l'Université de Strasbourg (botanical garden)
3281-513: A new 3.6-inch gun, in 1918. In 1928 a 3.7-inch (94 mm) gun became the preferred solution, but it took six years to gain funding. Production of the QF 3.7-inch gun began in 1937; this gun was used on mobile carriages with the field army and transportable guns on fixed mountings for static positions. At the same time the Royal Navy adopted a new 4.5-inch (113 mm) gun in a twin turret, which
3474-637: A new field mounting was introduced in 1916. Since most attacks were at night, searchlights were soon used, and acoustic methods of detection and locating were developed. By December 1916 there were 183 AA sections defending Britain (most with the 3-inch), 74 with the BEF in France and 10 in the Middle East. AA gunnery was a difficult business. The problem was of successfully aiming a shell to burst close to its target's future position, with various factors affecting
3667-468: A number of permanent public displays of its collections of scientific artefacts and products of all kinds of exploration and research. The commune of Strasbourg proper had a population of 291,313 on 1 January 2021, the result of a constant moderate annual growth which is also reflected in the constant growth of the number of students at its university (e. g. from 42,000 students in 2010 to 52,000 students in 2019). The metropolitan area of Strasbourg had
3860-459: A one-piece armoured windshield. They access their seats through side doors fitted with armoured windows. The rear part of the body is taken up by the compartment, with two small armoured windows on each side, where 8 men sit facing each other on anti-blast seats fixed to the side walls. A ramp at the back, featuring an emergency door and an episcope, that comes down low enough for the troops to skip on and off enables entry and exit. The rear compartment
4053-691: A par with the army, navy, or air force. In the Soviet Union, this was called Voyska PVO , and had both fighter aircraft, separate from the air force, and ground-based systems. This was divided into two arms, PVO Strany, the Strategic Air defence Service responsible for Air Defence of the Homeland, created in 1941 and becoming an independent service in 1954, and PVO SV, Air Defence of the Ground Forces. Subsequently, these became part of
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#17327937923964246-545: A population of 853,110 inhabitants in 2019 (French side of the border only), while the transnational Eurodistrict had a population of 1,000,000 in 2022. In the Middle Ages , Strasbourg (a free imperial city since 1262), was an important town. According to a 1444 census , the population was circa 20,000; only one third less than Cologne , then a major European city. Strasbourg is the seat of internationally renowned institutions of music and drama: Other theatres are
4439-554: A population of 860,744 in 2020, making it the eighth-largest metro area in France and home to 14% of the Grand Est region's inhabitants. The transnational Eurodistrict Strasbourg-Ortenau had a population of roughly 1,000,000 in 2022. Strasbourg is one of the de facto four main capitals of the European Union (alongside Brussels , Luxembourg and Frankfurt ), as it is the seat of several European institutions, such as
4632-456: A set number of kilometers. The adoption of predictive maintenance, agreed in a rider to the SCORPION contract, meant developing the software layer needed to coordinate sensors and analyze data. SCORPION vehicles are the first in the French military designed to be equipped with HUMS sensors; adding this capability is therefore not a complex operation. It boils down to connecting a few cables to
4825-427: A single electro-optical head. The module can be mounted on either the vehicle's roof or turret and provides a 360° azimuthal field of view around the vehicle, day and night, and elevation coverage from -15° to +75°, which also makes it possible to spot snipers on rooftops. With a resolution of 5 million pixels, it provides colour video for daytime operations and black-and-white video for night-time operations. In daylight,
5018-408: A solution on the "heavy" side, which will depend on robust communications. Some have deemed the equation rather antithetical to high-intensity warfare, which means maintaining combat capability with disrupted, degraded or possibly even destroyed resources. Complex and costly, this concept seems to be disappearing in favor of a single vehicle capable of acting autonomously to compensate for any failure in
5211-542: A unified combat information network to ensure the coherence of systems in service. Under this initial €5 billion investment plan up to 2025, 780 VBMR and 110 EBRC were to be acquired. The content of the following stages of the programme was to be consolidated at a later date to achieve the target set by the 2014-2019 Military Programming Law (LPM) and updated by the Defence Council's amendments on April 6, 2016: 1,722 heavy VBMR Griffon , 522 lighweight VBMR (which
5404-650: Is a tertiary establishment for research and education in Ethics . This center is located at the premises of the old faculty of medicine in Strasbourg. The Center’s name in French is CEERE ( Centre européen d’enseignement et de recherche en éthique ). International schools include: Multiple levels: For elementary education: For middle school/junior high school education: For senior high school/sixth form college: The Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire (BNU) is, with its collection of more than 3,000,000 titles,
5597-468: Is also an adjacent church Saint-Pierre-le-Vieux Protestant ) serves as a shrine for several 15th-century wood-worked and painted altars coming from other, now destroyed churches and installed there for public display; especially the Passion of Christ . Among the numerous secular medieval buildings, the monumental Ancienne Douane (old custom-house ) stands out. The German Renaissance has bequeathed
5790-485: Is also equipped with the MURIN ( Moyen de surveillance Utilisant un Radar d’observation des INtervalles ; English : Interval Radar Surveillance System) ground observation radar developed by Thales , which can be deployed outside the vehicle. This variant of the Griffon will be able to spot, identify and monitor virtually anything that moves, rolls or flies within a 24 km radius and at an altitude of 500 m (from vehicles to
5983-621: Is also intended as a replacement for the VAB , thus complementing the heavy VBMR Griffon . Weighing in at 17 tonnes in combat order, the Serval is roughly 25% heavier than the VAB . Four-wheeled and designed to operate in areas of contact with the enemy, the vehicle is particularly maneuverable and will primarily equip infantry units of light brigades such as the 11th Airborne Brigade and 27th Mountain Infantry Brigade . The contract for
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6176-634: Is among the few cities in the world that is not a state capital that hosts international organisations of the first order. The city is the seat of many non-European international institutions such as the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine and the International Institute of Human Rights . It is the second city in France in terms of international congress and symposia, after Paris . Strasbourg's historic city centre,
6369-483: Is assisted but not governed by identification friend or foe (IFF) electronic devices originally introduced during the Second World War . While these rules originate at the highest authority, different rules can apply to different types of air defence covering the same area at the same time. AAAD usually operates under the tightest rules. NATO calls these rules "weapon control orders" (WCO), they are: Until
6562-1053: Is chiefly known for its sandstone Gothic Cathedral with its famous astronomical clock , and for its medieval cityscape of Rhineland black and white timber-framed buildings, particularly in the Petite France district or Gerberviertel ("tanners' district") alongside the Ill and in the streets and squares surrounding the cathedral, where the renowned Maison Kammerzell stands out. Notable medieval streets include Rue Mercière , Rue des Dentelles , Rue du Bain aux Plantes , Rue des Juifs , Rue des Frères , Rue des Tonneliers , Rue du Maroquin , Rue des Charpentiers , Rue des Serruriers , Grand' Rue , Quai des Bateliers , Quai Saint-Nicolas and Quai Saint-Thomas . Notable medieval squares include Place de la Cathédrale , Place du Marché Gayot , Place Saint-Étienne , Place du Marché aux Cochons de Lait and Place Benjamin Zix . In addition to
6755-471: Is controlled from inside the vehicle using a joystick associated to a dedicated 13’3 16/9 full HD touch screen. The day and night sighting and fire-control system it integrates (the MINEO from Safran , mounted to the right side of the main armament) grants the vehicle commander and gunner a wider field of vision for target detection, recognition and identification. The MINEO combines an uncooled thermal imager,
6948-429: Is created from ground level up to a maximum height of 7 meters and to a distance of between 20 and 60 meters from the vehicle. Furthermore, the system is designed not only for self-defense (passive action), but is also capable of neutralizing hostile personnel (as it can fire a variety of lethal and non-lethal charges). The Hornet is electrically powered and has a 360° rotation, with elevation from -20° to +60°. The turret
7141-639: Is deployed in several ways: Air defence has included other elements, although after the Second World War most fell into disuse: Passive air defence is defined by NATO as "Passive measures taken for the physical defence and protection of personnel, essential installations and equipment in order to minimise the effectiveness of air and/or missile attack". It remains a vital activity by ground forces and includes camouflage and concealment to avoid detection by reconnaissance and attacking aircraft. Measures such as camouflaging important buildings were common in
7334-417: Is effectively indistinguishable from the standard VTT Félin from the outside. The reasoning behind this is simple: to prevent an ordinary adversary from identifying the variant, and therefore from focusing on high-value targets. Differences include the protrusion created by the addition of the mast and the roof-mounted T2 Hornet Lite remote controlled weapon station incorporating a 7.62 mm machine gun and
7527-418: Is equipped with a gyro-stabilized T1 Hornet remote controlled weapon station provided by Arquus . It is armed with either a 12.7 mm or 7.62 mm machine gun , or a 40 mm automatic grenade launcher . The ammunition box is mounted on the left side of the turret and holds 300 rounds of 12.7 mm ammunition, or 1,000 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition, or 64 40 mm grenades. The lower part of
7720-499: Is expected to have at its disposal: a command section comprising a command Griffon ( Griffon EPC ), a mobile maintenance workshop one ( Griffon ELI ) and 2 medical evacuation ones ( Griffon SAN ); three infantry sections with 4 Griffon each ( Griffon VTT Félin ); a combat engineering section with 3 Griffon ( Griffon GEN ); a fire support section with 2 Griffon equipped with 81 mm mortars ( Griffon MO81 ), another with 2 Griffon equipped with Akeron MP missiles ( Griffon MMP ) and
7913-454: Is operated by specialists, batteries may have several dozen teams deploying separately in small sections; self-propelled air defence guns may deploy in pairs. Batteries are usually grouped into battalions or equivalent. In the field army, a light gun or SHORAD battalion is often assigned to a manoeuvre division. Heavier guns and long-range missiles may be in air-defence brigades and come under corps or higher command. Homeland air defence may have
VBMR Griffon - Misplaced Pages Continue
8106-443: Is rail-mounted, facilitating maintenance operations. It is able to run on various types of fuel to facilitate replenishment wherever in the world French forces would be deployed. The Griffon also incorporates air conditioning and heating for comfort, as well as an overpressure protection system in order to keep the crew and passengers safe from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear ( CBRN ) threats. Crossing capacities are of
8299-416: Is still under study as of 2021. Its development is deemed complex as the aim is a full-fledged weapon system dedicated to CBRN countermeasures. It is therefore not scheduled for delivery before 2025. The vehicles will equip the 2nd Dragoon Regiment . 25 units are expected to be delivered. The Véhicule Blindé Multi-Rôle Léger Serval ( English : Lightweight Multirole Armoured Vehicle Serval) or VBMR-L Serval
8492-538: Is stored and analyzed to determine remaining potential, anticipate breakdowns and program interventions at the right moment. This method, one of several being explored as part of the MCO-T 2025 plan, is intended to help streamline support operations and improve vehicle availability. HUMS sensors can, for example, take the form of a dynamic engine oil quality control system. This control tool will allow oil changes to be carried out when necessary, rather than systematically after
8685-432: Is surmounted by four roof hatches: one at the front right, behind the driver; one above the gunner's station, behind the remotely-operated turret; and two at the rear. The Griffon features a militarized variant of a commercial Renault-Volvo diesel powertrain rated at 400 hp, an automatic gearbox and independent running gears, enabling the vehicle to reach a top speed of 90 km/h and a range of up to 800 km. The engine
8878-453: Is the SICS ( Système d'Information du Combat de SCORPION ; English : SCORPION Combat Information System), developed by Atos-Bull , and the CONTACT ( COmmunications Numériques TACtiques et de Théâtre ; English : Tactical and theater digital communications) software defined radio system developed by Thales . The SICS interconnects all the players in a combined arms battle group, while
9071-704: Is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France , at the border with Germany in the historic region of Alsace . It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin department and the official seat of the European Parliament . The city has about three hundred thousand inhabitants, and together Greater Strasbourg and the Arrondissement of Strasbourg have over five hundred thousand. Strasbourg's metropolitan area had
9264-644: Is the aforementioned Serval SATCP subvariant within the SCORPION program and is already qualified. It is the only one operational as of 2023 and is based on dismounted Mistral stations. The other concept, soon to be "resurrected", represents the Serval Mistral , which integrates an ATLAS RC remotely-operated turret on the vehicle, thus granting the ability to accompany the advance and carry out fire actions while remaining on board. According to initial plans, this turret will carry "at least two" Mistral 3 missiles" in addition to defensive armament. The STAT points out that
9457-462: Is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action". It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched ), and air-based weapon systems, in addition to associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements, and passive measures (e.g. barrage balloons ). It may be used to protect naval , ground , and air forces in any location. However, for most countries,
9650-461: Is to be integrated on a dedicated variant of the Griffon , designated Griffon MEPAC . An evolution of the Thales 2R2M 120 mm semi-automatic mortar system, it can fire up to ten rounds per minute against targets up to 13 km away with improved accuracy; the vehicle can then set itself in motion while closing the roof hatches at the same time. As for shells, two new developments are expected;
9843-414: Is to detect hostile aircraft and destroy them. The critical issue is to hit a target moving in three-dimensional space; an attack must not only match these three coordinates, but must do so at the time the target is at that position. This means that projectiles either have to be guided to hit the target, or aimed at the predicted position of the target at the time the projectile reaches it, taking into account
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#173279379239610036-402: Is to modernize and standardize, the SCORPION and VLTP P segment haut each retain their own timetable and budget. The first units of the 1,060 Serval VLTP-P vehicles (10 Serval PC ATLAS for the artillery) are expected to be delivered in 2025. Of all the applications envisaged for the Serval , surface-to-air defence and anti-drone warfare are the latest introduced; functions anticipated by
10229-586: Is usually accomplished via the combined use of systems optimized for either short-, medium-, or long-range air defence. In some countries, such as Britain and Germany during the Second World War , the Soviet Union , and modern NATO and the United States, ground-based air defence and air defence aircraft have been under integrated command and control. However, while overall air defence may be for homeland defence (including military facilities), forces in
10422-594: The Grande Île (Grand Island), was classified a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988, with the newer " Neustadt " being added to the site in 2017. Strasbourg is immersed in Franco-German culture and although violently disputed throughout history, has been a cultural bridge between France and Germany for centuries, especially through the University of Strasbourg , currently the second-largest in France, and
10615-971: The Hôpital civil . As for French Neo-classicism , it is the Opera House on Place Broglie that most prestigiously represents this style. Strasbourg also offers high-class eclecticist buildings in its very extended German district, the Neustadt , being the main memory of Wilhelmian architecture since most of the major cities in Germany proper suffered intensive damage during World War II. Streets, boulevards and avenues are homogeneous, surprisingly high (up to seven stories) and broad examples of German urban lay-out and of this architectural style that summons and mixes up five centuries of European architecture as well as Neo-Egyptian, Neo-Greek and Neo-Babylonian styles. The former imperial palace Palais du Rhin ,
10808-425: The 13-pr QF 9 cwt and these proved much more satisfactory. However, in general, these ad hoc solutions proved largely useless. With little experience in the role, no means of measuring target, range, height or speed the difficulty of observing their shell bursts relative to the target gunners proved unable to get their fuse setting correct and most rounds burst well below their targets. The exception to this rule
11001-479: The CONTACT provides communication capabilities between the vehicles, with simultaneous and real time voice and data transmission. The Griffon is characterized by its vetronics i.e. the architecture of its on-board electronic systems. Also developed by Thales , the architecture is common to all SCORPION vehicles. It requires compact yet powerful computers and links all navigation, protection, observation and communication systems. It manages and merges all data within
11194-573: The ECLIPSE smart software defined jammer from Thales , which provides electronic protection against IED/RCIED threats as well as the company's ANTARES optronics system. The ECLIPSE instantly detects and responds to the triggering of improvised explosive devices by jamming radio remote control signals across a wide range of frequencies without interfering with the radio communication systems used by friendly forces. The ANTARES combines precise laser warning and local situational awareness capabilities in
11387-907: The European Parliament , the Eurocorps and the European Ombudsman of the European Union . An organization separate from the European Union, the Council of Europe (with its European Court of Human Rights , its European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines most commonly known in French as "Pharmacopée Européenne", and its European Audiovisual Observatory ) is also located in the city. Together with Basel ( Bank for International Settlements ), Geneva ( United Nations ), The Hague ( International Court of Justice ) and New York City (United Nations world headquarters), Strasbourg
11580-527: The French Navy . Unveiled at the end of 2021, this turret is designed around the 30M781 30 mm cannon arming the Tiger attack helicopter. The system is expected to benefit from intelligent ammunition tailored for anti-UAV missions. Two programmable airburst munitions are under development, one timed and the other proximity-fired. Nexter is also pushing for the idea of a hybrid solution, proportional to
11773-491: The Félin (infantry carrier), was qualified for service on 24 June 2019. The Griffon VTT will consist of seven subvariants: Félin , STE (sniper section carrier), MMP (medium-range missile platform), MO81 (dismounted 81 mm mortar vehicle), GEN (combat engineering vehicle), ELI (light intervention element vehicle; the principle is that of a mobile maintenance workshop) and RAV (refuelling vehicle). The Griffon EPC
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#173279379239611966-465: The GALIX , and featuring the same MINEO sighting system as the T1 Hornet ). Each SCORPION vehicle's remote controlled weapon station is a contributor to the intelligence acquisition and sharing chain. As common SCORPION equipment, they are the "eyes" of collaborative combat. Each remotely-operated turret is integrated into the vehicle's vetronics, which in turn is linked to the other elements of
12159-585: The GALIX , instead of the standard T1 model. On the other hand, the rear compartment has been redesigned to make room for a command post. Carrying 7 soldiers (1 pilot and 1 gunner at the front and 5 at the rear manning the command post), it has been designed to accommodate communications equipment, large screens, a blackboard, a printer and everything else needed for collaborative combat (vetronics, CONTACT software-defined radio, SCORPION combat information system, ANTARES optronics system, fire start detector, etc.). The air-conditioning has also been reinforced to protect
12352-448: The Griffon nonetheless benefited from the common development with an average cost estimated at just €1.5 million per unit (FY2017), 50% more than its original target price. Derived from the BMX 01 prototype proposed by Renault Trucks Defense , the Griffon benefits from a classic layout. It's a huge armoured truck with six-wheel drive and four-wheel steering (front and rear axles), with
12545-409: The Griffon ordered expected to have been delivered. In the 2024-2030 Military Programming Law, it is stated 1,437 VBMR Griffon are to enter French service by 2030 and 1,818 by 2035. 54 Griffon MEPAC are also expected to be delivered to the French Army by 2030. The data collected by the sensors equipping the Griffon are fed into the SCORPION bubble via a common combat information network, which
12738-420: The Griffon , the Serval can embark a combat group of up to 10 men and integrates the same equipment, in particular the vetronics, threat detectors and SICS combat information system, enabling it to be integrated into the SCORPION collaborative combat network. In its base VPB variant, it is equipped with either a remotely-operated gyro-stabilized T2 Hornet Lite turret armed with a 7.62 mm machine gun or
12931-461: The Griffon . In addition to the common base, this central attribute of modularity extends to turret and protection kits. Not all vehicles are equipped with these kits from the outset, as they are installed according to mission requirements. The Griffon VTT represents the principal variant of the VBMR Griffon , with over 1,000 vehicles to be delivered. Its first and most common configuration,
13124-604: The Griffon VTT family: Infanterie (light infantry carrier, notably airborne and mountain infantry), MMP (medium-range missile), EPC (command post), OA (artillery observation), MO81 (81 mm dismounted mortar), MO120 (120 mm towed mortar), GEN (combat engineering), SAN (medical evacuation), RAV (refuelling) and SATCP (dismounted Mistral 3 very short-range surface-to-air missile system). The Serval SA2R consists of intelligence processing ( Serval TDR ) and acquisition ( Serval ACQ ) subvariants. The latter carries
13317-743: The Griffon VTT Félin from the outside. Whereas the latter is designed to carry 10 fully-equipped soldiers, the MEPAC will accommodate a reduced crew of four artillerymen, namely the pilot, the gun leader and two soldiers operating the MEPAC. The chief will switch from the front of the vehicle during the driving phase, to a position at the rear to command the battery and firing. Reducing the crew from five as originally intended to four has also freed up considerable space for additional ammunition. The turntable-mounted mortar can be rotated through 360° and has
13510-602: The Hôtel du Département facing it, as well as, in the outskirts, the tramway-station Hoenheim -Nord designed by Zaha Hadid . The city has many bridges, including the medieval and four-towered Ponts Couverts that, despite their name, are no longer covered. Next to the Ponts Couverts is the Barrage Vauban , a part of Vauban 's 17th-century fortifications, that does include a covered bridge. Other bridges are
13703-540: The MURAT 120 mm reduced-risk ammunition, offering a 12% increase in maximum range with no loss of effectiveness, and a metric-precision ammunition with a 15 km range. As it can be put into road position as quickly as into battery, it is designed to avoid counter-battery fire more easily, while providing better protection for the crew. The Griffon MEPAC , like the Griffon EPC , is virtually indistinguishable from
13896-463: The QF 3-inch and QF 4-inch AA guns and also had Vickers 1-pounder quick firing "pom-poms" that could be used in various mountings. The first US anti-aircraft cannon was a 1-pounder concept design by Admiral Twining in 1911 to meet the perceived threat of airships, that eventually was used as the basis for the US Navy's first operational anti-aircraft cannon: the 3-inch/23 caliber gun . On
14089-671: The RIM-66 Standard , Raytheon Standard Missile 6 , or the MBDA Aster missile. Non-English terms for air defence include the German Flak or FlaK ( Fliegerabwehrkanone , 'aircraft defence cannon', also cited as Flugabwehrkanone ), whence English flak , and the Russian term Protivovozdushnaya oborona ( Cyrillic : Противовозду́шная оборо́на), a literal translation of 'anti-air defence', abbreviated as PVO. In Russian,
14282-675: The Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) was manning AA guns and searchlights assembled from various sources at some nine ports. The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was given responsibility for AA defence in the field, using motorised two-gun sections. The first were formally formed in November 1914. Initially they used QF 1-pounder "pom-pom"s (37 mm versions of the Maxim Gun ). All armies soon deployed AA guns often based on their smaller field pieces, notably
14475-528: The Serval LAD , the team led by Nexter is working on several concepts. Weapon systems under consideration for its armament range from 40 mm automatic grenade launchers to 30 mm autocannons. Two paths are envisaged; one based on several carriers and the other on an "all-in-one" solution. The former would have the merit of carrying more powerful sensors, like an X-band radar capable of detecting threats several tens of kilometers away, discriminating appropriately and anticipating more accurately. This proposal implies
14668-431: The T1 Hornet armed with either a 7.62 mm or 12.7 mm machine gun. Both turrets are also fitted with the GALIX countermeasure system. According to Nexter, the Serval' s dimensions enable it to be easily deployed in external theaters, since an A400M can carry 2 Serval in combat order, in comparison to just 1 Griffon or Jaguar . In May 2022, the first 4 units were delivered to the French Army and 189 units by
14861-699: The Théâtre jeune public , the TAPS Scala , the Kafteur ... Strasbourg, well known as a centre of humanism , has a long history of excellence in higher education, at the crossroads of French and German intellectual traditions. Although Strasbourg had been annexed by the Kingdom of France in 1683, it still remained connected to the German-speaking intellectual world throughout the 18th century, and
15054-682: The United States Air Force 's operating bases in the UK. All ground-based air defence was removed from Royal Air Force (RAF) jurisdiction in 2004 . The British Army's Anti-Aircraft Command was disbanded in March 1955, but during the 1960s and 1970s the RAF's Fighter Command operated long-range air-defence missiles to protect key areas in the UK. During World War II, the Royal Marines also provided air defence units; formally part of
15247-662: The XLR standard; all to be delivered by 2030. The total cost of the programme was estimated at €11 billion. On 26 October 2018, the Belgian government formalized the plan to purchase 60 EBRC Jaguar and 382 VBMR Griffon for €1.5 billion. The vehicles will replace the Belgian Army 's Piranha IIIC armoured personnel carriers and Dingo 2 infantry mobility vehicles . The deal includes spare parts and secure communications equipment and deliveries are scheduled to start in 2025. When
15440-479: The powertrain at the front. The vehicle weighs in at around 25 tonnes in combat order, roughly twice as much as the 13-tonne VAB . The embarked combat group of a standard Griffon (the VTT Félin ) comprises 10 fully-equipped soldiers; a driver, a dedicated gunner as well as 8 infantrymen, including the commander. In the crew cabin, the driver (front left) and the remote turret gunner (front right) are sheltered by
15633-518: The " Hôtel de Hanau " (1736, now the city hall); the Hôtel de Klinglin (1736, now residence of the préfet ); the Hôtel des Deux-Ponts (1755, now residence of the military governor ); the Hôtel d'Andlau-Klinglin (1725, now seat of the administration of the Port autonome de Strasbourg ) etc. The largest baroque building of Strasbourg though is the 150-metre-long (490 ft) 1720s main building of
15826-561: The 1880s can be found along the newly reopened Rue du Rempart , displaying large-scale fortifications among which the aptly named Kriegstor (war gate). As for modern and contemporary architecture , Strasbourg possesses some fine Art Nouveau buildings (such as the huge Palais des Fêtes and houses and villas like Villa Schutzenberger and Hôtel Brion ), good examples of post-World War II functional architecture (the Cité Rotterdam , for which Le Corbusier did not succeed in
16019-649: The 1950s, guns firing ballistic munitions were the standard weapon; guided missiles then became dominant, except at the very shortest ranges. However, the type of shell or warhead and its fuzing and, with missiles, the guidance arrangement were and are varied. Targets are not always easy to destroy; nonetheless, damaged aircraft may be forced to abort their mission and, even if they manage to return and land in friendly territory, may be out of action for days or permanently. Ignoring small arms and smaller machine-guns, ground-based air defence guns have varied in calibre from 20 mm to at least 152 mm. Ground-based air defence
16212-471: The 30th of September, 1915, troops of the Serbian Army observed three enemy aircraft approaching Kragujevac . Soldiers fired at them with shotguns and machine-guns but failed to prevent them from dropping 45 bombs over the city, hitting military installations, the railway station and many other, mostly civilian, targets in the city. During the bombing raid, private Radoje Ljutovac fired his cannon at
16405-420: The 8.8 cm FlaK 18 in 1933, the 36 and 37 models followed with various improvements, but ballistic performance was unchanged. In the late 1930s the 10.5 cm FlaK 38 appeared, soon followed by the 39; this was designed primarily for static sites but had a mobile mounting, and the unit had 220 V 24 kW generators. In 1938 design started on the 12.8 cm FlaK . Britain had successfully tested
16598-487: The AA systems are called zenitnye (i.e., 'pointing to zenith ') systems. In French, air defence is called Défense contre les aéronefs (DCA) , aéronef meaning 'aircraft'. The maximum distance at which a gun or missile can engage an aircraft is an important figure. However, many different definitions are used and unless the same definition is used, performance of different guns or missiles cannot be compared. For AA guns only
16791-492: The British Isles increased in 1915 and the AA efforts were deemed somewhat ineffective, so a Royal Navy gunnery expert, Admiral Sir Percy Scott , was appointed to make improvements, particularly an integrated AA defence for London. The air defences were expanded with more RNVR AA guns, 75 mm and 3-inch, the pom-poms being ineffective. The naval 3-inch was also adopted by the army, the QF 3-inch 20 cwt (76 mm),
16984-546: The British adopted a new instrument developed by Vickers. It was a mechanical analogue computer - the Predictor AA No 1. Given the target height, its operators tracked the target and the predictor produced bearing, quadrant elevation and fuse setting. These were passed electrically to the guns, where they were displayed on repeater dials to the layers who "matched pointers" (target data and the gun's actual data) to lay
17177-579: The French Ministry of Defense finally entrusted their design to a consortium formed by Nexter , Arquus and Thales , who had announced their intention to collaborate as early as 2010 and had initiated preliminary work for a joint technical solution. The development and purchase of this new generation of armoured vehicles, part of a programme styled SCORPION (Synergie du COntact Renforcée par la Polyvalence et l'InfovalorisatiON; English : Contact Synergy Reinforced by Versatility and Infotainment),
17370-419: The French 75 mm and Russian 76.2 mm, typically simply propped up on some sort of embankment to get the muzzle pointed skyward. The British Army adopted the 13-pounder quickly producing new mountings suitable for AA use, the 13-pdr QF 6 cwt Mk III was issued in 1915. It remained in service throughout the war but 18-pdr guns were lined down to take the 13-pdr shell with a larger cartridge producing
17563-413: The French Army to fill the gap left by its current patchwork of specialized equipment but finally brought to the fore by the 2024-2030 LPM. The latter calls for the entry into service of 12 counter-UAV ( Serval LAD ) and 24 very short-range air defence ( Serval Mistral ) systems by 2030, as well as "at least" 40 and 45 systems respectively by 2035. In the absence of clearly defined requirements as of 2023 for
17756-398: The French Army will then have no delay in setting up the battery, eliminating all that this implies in terms of vulnerability. The Serval Mistral will carry the entire environment needed to build up complete capabilities, including an X-band radar for detection and a specific command component for deconfliction logics. Metravib Defence Air defence Anti-aircraft warfare
17949-405: The French army has opted for a semi-modular platform. The front part of the vehicle, from the engine compartment to the intermediate bulkhead, will be identical for the entire fleet. Only the rear half, from the second axle upwards, will be modular. It will therefore be possible, for example, to alter a Griffon MMP subvariant into a Griffon VTT Félin one simply by replacing the missile supports in
18142-514: The Gaulish word for fortified enclosures, cognate to the Old Irish ráth (see ringfort ) and arganto(n)- (cognate to Latin argentum , which gave modern French argent ), the Gaulish word for silver, but also any precious metal, particularly gold, suggesting either a fortified enclosure located by a river gold mining site, or hoarding gold mined in the nearby rivers. After the fifth century
18335-563: The German Flugzeugabwehrkanone ), "ack-ack" (from the spelling alphabet used by the British for voice transmission of "AA"); and "archie" (a World War I British term probably coined by Amyas Borton , and believed to derive via the Royal Flying Corps , from the music-hall comedian George Robey 's line "Archibald, certainly not!" ). NATO defines anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) as "measures taken to defend
18528-467: The German artillery to lay their guns. A librarian from Munich later pointed out "...that the destruction of the precious collection was not the fault of a German artillery officer, who used the French map, but of the slovenly and inaccurate scholarship of a Frenchman." The municipal library Bibliothèque municipale de Strasbourg (BMS) administers a network of ten medium-sized libraries in different areas of
18721-475: The German district include: Avenue de la Forêt Noire , Avenue des Vosges , Avenue d'Alsace , Avenue de la Marseillaise , Avenue de la Liberté , Boulevard de la Victoire , Rue Sellénick , Rue du Général de Castelnau , Rue du Maréchal Foch , and Rue du Maréchal Joffre . Notable squares of the German district include Place de la République , Place de l'Université , Place Brant , and Place Arnold . Impressive examples of Prussian military architecture of
18914-481: The Gothic Église protestante Saint-Pierre-le-Jeune with its crypt dating back to the seventh century and its cloister partly from the eleventh century; the Gothic Église Saint-Guillaume with its fine early-Renaissance stained glass and furniture; the Gothic Église Saint-Jean ; the part-Gothic, part- Art Nouveau Église Sainte-Madeleine etc. The Neo-Gothic church Saint-Pierre-le-Vieux Catholique (there
19107-560: The Nazi occupation (atrocities such as the Jewish skull collection ) and the British and American bombing raids . Some other notable dates were the years 357 ( Battle of Argentoratum ), 842 ( Oaths of Strasbourg ), 1538 (establishment of the university ), 1605 (world's first newspaper printed by Johann Carolus ), 1792 ( La Marseillaise ), and 1889 (pancreatic origin of diabetes discovered by Minkowski and Von Mering ). Strasbourg has been
19300-563: The PROMETEUS ( PROtection Multi Effets Terrestre Unifiée ; English : Unified terrestrial multi-effect protection) programme, which aims to develop a global armour protection system for SCORPION vehicles combining three technologies: "versatile passive protection", "reactive protection" and "active protection". The latter, designated Diamant , is a distributed hard-kill active protection system being developed by Thales comprising four frequency-modulated continuous-wave radar sensors mounted on
19493-435: The Rhine opened in 2004 and is the most extended (60-hectare) park of the agglomeration. The most recent park is Parc du Heyritz (8,7 ha), opened in 2014 along a canal facing the hôpital civil . As of 2020, the city of Strasbourg has eleven municipal museums (including Aubette 1928 ), eleven university museums, and at least two privately owned museums ( Musée vodou and Musée du barreau de Strasbourg ). Five communes in
19686-513: The SCORPION environment". "Already available, already qualified, already tried and tested in more ways than one", according to the French Army's Technical Section (STAT), the Serval has been chosen to form the "high protected" segment of the VLTP range of vehicles. It will be replacing various types of unarmoured vehicles among support regiments at brigade, division or joint level. While the common aim
19879-473: The Second World War. During the Cold War the runways and taxiways of some airfields were painted green. While navies are usually responsible for their own air defence—at least for ships at sea—organisational arrangements for land-based air defence vary between nations and over time. The most extreme case was the Soviet Union and this model may still be followed in some countries: it was a separate service, on
20072-621: The United States Army's Balloon Corps to be disbanded mid-war. The Confederates experimented with balloons as well. Turks carried out the first ever anti-airplane operation in history during the Italo-Turkish war . Although lacking anti-aircraft weapons, they were the first to shoot down an airplane by rifle fire. The first aircraft to crash in a war was the one of Lieutenant Piero Manzini, shot down on August 25, 1912. The earliest known use of weapons specifically made for
20265-484: The Vosges and Black Forest mountains, results in poor natural ventilation, making Strasbourg one of the most atmospherically polluted cities of France. Nonetheless, the progressive disappearance of heavy industry on both banks of the Rhine, as well as effective measures of traffic regulation in and around the city have reduced air pollution in recent years. Strasbourg is divided into the following districts: The city
20458-490: The ability to mark a target. With variants and subvariants incorporating equipment and/or systems specific to them, Griffon -derived fire support vehicles possess their own main armament, ranging from Akeron MP missiles to the MEPAC on-board 120 mm mortar system. They nonetheless also integrate a remotely-operated turret as secondary armament (typically the T2 Hornet Lite equipped with a 7.62 mm machine gun as well as
20651-669: The air force and ground forces respectively. At the other extreme, the United States Army has an Air Defense Artillery Branch that provides ground-based air defence for both homeland and the army in the field; however, it is operationally under the Joint Force Air Component Commander . Many other nations also deploy an air-defence branch in the army. Some, such as Japan or Israel, choose to integrate their ground based air defence systems into their air force. In Britain and some other armies,
20844-413: The altitude at which a gun could deliver a series of shells against a moving target; this could be constrained by maximum fuse running time as well as the gun's capability. By the late 1930s the British definition was "that height at which a directly approaching target at 400 mph [640 km/h] can be engaged for 20 seconds before the gun reaches 70 degrees elevation". The essence of air defence
21037-562: The anti-aircraft role occurred during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. After the disaster at Sedan , Paris was besieged and French troops outside the city started an attempt at communication via balloon . Gustav Krupp mounted a modified 1-pounder (37 mm) gun – the Ballonabwehrkanone (Balloon defence cannon) or BaK — on top of a horse-drawn carriage for the purpose of shooting down these balloons. By
21230-515: The architectural contest) and, in the very extended Quartier Européen , some spectacular administrative buildings of sometimes utterly large size, among which the European Court of Human Rights building by Richard Rogers is arguably the finest. Other noticeable contemporary buildings are the new Music school Cité de la Musique et de la Danse , the Musée d'Art moderne et contemporain and
21423-677: The army adopted in simplified single-gun mountings for static positions, mostly around ports where naval ammunition was available. The performance of the new guns was limited by their standard fuse No 199, with a 30-second running time, although a new mechanical time fuse giving 43 seconds was nearing readiness. In 1939 a machine fuse setter was introduced to eliminate manual fuse setting. Strasbourg Strasbourg ( UK : / ˈ s t r æ z b ɜːr ɡ / , US : / ˈ s t r ɑː s b ʊər ɡ , ˈ s t r ɑː z -, - b ɜːr ɡ / ; French: [stʁasbuʁ] ; German : Straßburg [ˈʃtʁaːsbʊʁk] ; )
21616-407: The ascending part of the trajectory can be usefully used. One term is "ceiling", the maximum ceiling being the height a projectile would reach if fired vertically, not practically useful in itself as few AA guns are able to fire vertically, and the maximum fuse duration may be too short, but potentially useful as a standard to compare different weapons. The British adopted "effective ceiling", meaning
21809-457: The battlefield, the AA guns could not be traversed quickly enough at close targets and, being relatively few, were not always in the right place (and were often unpopular with other troops), so changed positions frequently. Soon the forces were adding various machine-gun based weapons mounted on poles. These short-range weapons proved more deadly, and the " Red Baron " is believed to have been shot down by an anti-aircraft Vickers machine gun . When
22002-457: The cathedral, Strasbourg houses several other medieval churches that have survived the many wars and destructions that have plagued the city: the Romanesque Église Saint-Étienne , partly destroyed in 1944 by Allied bombing raids ; the part-Romanesque, part-Gothic, very large Église Saint-Thomas with its Silbermann organ on which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Albert Schweitzer played;
22195-509: The chain of command, a prime target for an adversary on equal terms. The Serval equipped with a ARX 30 remotely-operated turret, which was unveiled by Nexter in 2022 as a scale model, is thus increasingly considered the likely solution to be adopted. Development of the ARX 30 remote controlled weapons station benefitted from the work carried on the RapidFire system by Nexter and Thales for
22388-649: The city became known by a completely different name, later Gallicized as Strasbourg ( Lower Alsatian : Strossburi ; German : Straßburg ). That name is of Germanic origin and means 'town (at the crossing) of roads'. The modern Stras- is cognate with the German Straße and English street , both derived from Latin strata ("paved road"), while -bourg is cognate with the German Burg and English borough , both derived from Proto-Germanic *burgz ("hill fort, fortress"). Gregory of Tours
22581-551: The city of Argentoratum, which they now call Strateburgus "), where he was exiled. The Roman camp of Argentoratum was first mentioned in 12 BCE; the city of Strasbourg which grew from it celebrated its 2,000th anniversary in 1988. The fertile area in the Upper Rhine Plain between the rivers Ill and Rhine had already been populated since the Middle Paleolithic . Between 362 and 1262, Strasbourg
22774-542: The city some noteworthy buildings (especially the current Chambre de commerce et d'industrie , former town hall , on Place Gutenberg ), as did the French Baroque and Classicism with several hôtels particuliers (i.e. palaces ), among which the Palais Rohan (completed 1742, used for university purposes from 1872 to 1895, now housing three museums) is the most spectacular. Other buildings of its kind are
22967-471: The city took part in the Protestation at Speyer . It was also one of the first centres of the printing industry with pioneers such as Johannes Gutenberg , Johannes Mentelin , and Heinrich Eggestein . Among the darkest periods in the city's long history were the years 1349 ( Strasbourg massacre ), 1518 ( Dancing plague ), 1793 ( Reign of Terror ), 1870 ( Siege of Strasbourg ) and the years 1940–1944 with
23160-529: The coexistence of Catholic and Protestant culture . It is also home to the largest Islamic place of worship in France, the Strasbourg Grand Mosque . Economically, Strasbourg is an important centre of manufacturing and engineering, as well as a hub of road, rail, and river transportation. The port of Strasbourg is the second-largest on the Rhine after Duisburg in Germany, and the second-largest river port in France after Paris . Until
23353-408: The competition for a share of limited defence budgets. Demobilisation meant that most AA guns were taken out of service, leaving only the most modern. However, there were lessons to be learned. In particular the British, who had had AA guns in most theatres in action in daylight and used them against night attacks at home. Furthermore, they had also formed an Anti-Aircraft Experimental Section during
23546-415: The corners of the vehicle, a number of effector modules mounted around the perimeter of the vehicle, on its roof and around its hood, and a power supply system for the control unit computer. The system uses the radars to detect and track potential threats such as anti-tank rockets and anti-tank guided missiles . Once the threat has been detected, the system instructs the appropriate effector module to launch
23739-589: The crew to react as it sees fit. Additionally, the vehicle features the PILAR V , a roof-mounted device capable of detecting, identifying and locating shots from small arms, medium-calibre weapons, mortar shells, shaped charge rockets or RPGs in real time. It provides a 360° coverage and is always active. It can filter outgoing fire to avoid false detections and false reports to the SICS combat information system, and can detect whether single or burst shots are being fired in
23932-588: The decision phase. When a shot is detected within a 5 km radius, the sensors transfer threat and angle-of-attack data to the vehicle's fire-control system . In response, the GALIX will launch multispectral countermeasures in less than a second, capable of disrupting the opposing gunner. Essentially, the grenades deploy a cloud of smoke that mask the vehicle in visible range as well as all laser wavebands (target designators, laser rangefinders, etc) and large infrared bands (0.8-14 microns) covering bands I, III and IV. This non-toxic protective cloud lasts up to 90 seconds and
24125-779: The diverse post-graduate schools: The three institutions merged in 2009, forming the Université de Strasbourg . Its component schools include: Two American colleges have a base in Strasbourg: Syracuse University , New York, and Centre College , Kentucky. There is also HEAR ( Haute école des arts du Rhin ) the celebrated art school , and the International Space University in the south of Strasbourg ( Illkirch-Graffenstaden ). The European Center for Studies and Research in Ethics
24318-678: The early 20th century balloon, or airship, guns, for land and naval use were attracting attention. Various types of ammunition were proposed, high explosive, incendiary, bullet-chains, rod bullets and shrapnel. The need for some form of tracer or smoke trail was articulated. Fuzing options were also examined, both impact and time types. Mountings were generally pedestal type but could be on field platforms. Trials were underway in most countries in Europe but only Krupp, Erhardt, Vickers Maxim, and Schneider had published any information by 1910. Krupp's designs included adaptations of their 65 mm 9-pounder,
24511-549: The end of 2021, 339 units of the VMBR Griffon had been delivered to the French Army. The first operational units were displayed on the Champs-Élysées during the 2019 Bastille Day Parade. By 2025, the SCORPION infantry should have achieved its first infovalorization and collaborative combat capability, with the Griffon multi-role armoured vehicles having begun to replace the quadragenarian VAB in 2019 and half of
24704-723: The end of 2023, the DGA ordered 420 additional Serval vehicles as a follow-up to the first order of 364 units in 2020. This new order will enable new capabilities, notably the acquisition of the electronic warfare variant, in addition to the previous three. Identical to the Serval being delivered to the SCORPION units, the vehicles to be acquired under the Véhicule Léger Tactique Polyvalent Protégé segment haut ( English : Multi-purpose light tactical vehicles - protected high segment) programme are intended to equip "combat and support units in contact with
24897-399: The end of 2023. The Serval under the SCORPION programme will be available in four main variants: VPB (armored patrol vehicle), SA2R (surveillance-target acquisition-intelligence-reconnaissance), NCT (tactical communications node) and GE (electronic warfare). The Serval VPB , the most common variant, will consist of up to 10 subvariants, most of them comparable to those adopted for
25090-490: The enemy aircraft and successfully shot one down. It crashed in the city and both pilots died from their injuries. The cannon Ljutovac used was not designed as an anti-aircraft gun; it was a slightly modified Turkish cannon captured during the First Balkan War in 1912. This was the first occasion in military history that a military aircraft was shot down with ground-to-air artillery fire. The British recognised
25283-654: The field, wherever they are, provide their own defences against airborne threats. Until the 1950s, guns firing ballistic munitions ranging from 7.62 mm (.30 in) to 152.4 mm (6 in) were the standard weapons; guided missiles then became dominant, except at the very shortest ranges (as with close-in weapon systems , which typically use rotary autocannons or, in very modern systems, surface-to-air adaptations of short-range air-to-air missiles , often combined in one system with rotary cannons). It may also be called counter-air , anti-air , AA , flak , layered air defence or air defence forces . The term air defence
25476-405: The fifth century AD, the city was known as Argantorati (in the nominative , Argantorate in the locative ), a Celtic Gaulish name Latinised first as Argentorate (with Gaulish locative ending, as appearing on the first Roman milestones in the first century) and then as Argentoratum (with regular Latin nominative ending, in later Latin texts). That Gaulish name is a compound of -rati ,
25669-561: The first stage of the programme was launched in 2014, the aim was to achieve an acquisition cost of €1 million per VBMR and €3 million per EBRC . This was expected to be achieved in part through the large quantities of SCORPION vehicles to be acquired, enabling economies of scale. Furthermore, the consortium opted for the Griffon to share 70% of its components with the Jaguar to save on development, production and maintenance costs as well as to facilitate logistics. Constituents shared include
25862-584: The ground-based air defence of the British Army's Anti-Aircraft Command , although field-deployed air defence relied on less sophisticated arrangements. NATO later called these arrangements an "air defence ground environment", defined as "the network of ground radar sites and command and control centres within a specific theatre of operations which are used for the tactical control of air defence operations". Rules of engagement are critical to prevent air defences engaging friendly or neutral aircraft. Their use
26055-587: The guns. This system of repeater electrical dials built on the arrangements introduced by British coast artillery in the 1880s, and coast artillery was the background of many AA officers. Similar systems were adopted in other countries and for example the later Sperry M3A3 in the US, was also used by Britain as the Predictor AA No 2. Height finders were also increasing in size; in Britain, the seven-foot optical base World War I Barr & Stroud UB 2 stereoscopic rangefinder
26248-412: The installation of a modular armour package. A deployed French Griffon GTIA (in the French Army, a GTIA is a combined arms battle group composed of a little over 1,000 men) would be composed of two or three infantry companies equipped with Griffon vehicles, and a Jaguar cavalry squadron. Although its structure would be modular according to the missions assigned to it, each conventional infantry company
26441-501: The late 1930s for development work on sound-locating acoustic devices to be generally halted, although equipment was retained. Furthermore, in Britain the volunteer Observer Corps formed in 1925 provided a network of observation posts to report hostile aircraft flying over Britain. Initially radar was used for airspace surveillance to detect approaching hostile aircraft. However, the German Würzburg radar put into use in 1940
26634-601: The main effort has tended to be homeland defence . Missile defence is an extension of air defence, as are initiatives to adapt air defence to the task of intercepting any projectile in flight. Most modern anti-aircraft (AA) weapons systems are optimized for short-, medium-, or long-range air defence, although some systems may incorporate multiple weapons (such as both autocannons and surface-to-air missiles ). ‘Layered air defence’ usually refers to multiple ‘tiers’ of air defence systems which, when combined, an airborne threat must penetrate in order to reach its target; This defence
26827-404: The metropolitan area also have museums (see below), three of them dedicated to military history. The collections in Strasbourg are distributed over a wide range of museums, according to a system that takes into account not only the types and geographical provenances of the items, but also the epochs. This concerns in particular the following domains: The Université de Strasbourg is in charge of
27020-513: The mobile naval base defence organisation, they were handled as an integral part of the army-commanded ground based air defences. The basic air defence unit is typically a battery with 2 to 12 guns or missile launchers and fire control elements. These batteries, particularly with guns, usually deploy in a small area, although batteries may be split; this is usual for some missile systems. SHORAD missile batteries often deploy across an area with individual launchers several kilometres apart. When MANPADS
27213-548: The most political and thus heavily criticized of all German Strasbourg buildings epitomizes the grand scale and stylistic sturdiness of this period. But the two most handsome and ornate buildings of these times are the École internationale des Pontonniers (the former Höhere Mädchenschule , with its towers, turrets and multiple round and square angles and the Haute école des arts du Rhin with its lavishly ornate façade of painted bricks, woodwork and majolica . Notable streets of
27406-484: The movements of an individual burying an IED or mine for example, and from shell bursts to helicopters up to 500 m above sea level). 177 Griffon VOA are to be delivered to the French Army in total. Meanwhile, in December 2019, the MEPAC ( Mortier Embarqué Pour l'Appui au Contact ; English : Embedded mortar for contact support) was selected by France for integration on a new self-propelled mortar platform. The system
27599-494: The need for anti-aircraft capability a few weeks before World War I broke out; on 8 July 1914, the New York Times reported that the British government had decided to "dot the coasts of the British Isles with a series of towers, each armed with two quick-firing guns of special design," while "a complete circle of towers" was to be built around "naval installations" and "at other especially vulnerable points". By December 1914
27792-557: The north, or 650 kilometres (400 mi) as the river flows, whilst the head of navigation in Basel is some 100 kilometres (62 mi) to the south, or 150 kilometres (93 mi) by river. In spite of its position far inland, Strasbourg has an oceanic climate ( Köppen : Cfb ), though with less maritime influence than the milder climates of Western and Southern France . The city has warm, relatively sunny summers and cool, overcast winters. The third highest temperature ever recorded
27985-529: The on-board electronics in extreme climatic conditions. The Griffon EPC was qualified for service by the DGA in November 2020. 333 units are to be delivered to the French Army. As for the Griffon Sanitaire , abbreviated Griffon SAN , it will be used for casualty care and evacuation. This variant was qualified for service by the DGA on 12 September 2022. It is equipped with a medical module, facilities for storing and integrating medical equipment, and
28178-400: The option of firing in degraded mode (tube movement by manual pump, orientation by goniometer, manual loading from roof hatches and firing under manual control). 54 units are to be delivered to the French Army from the fourth quarter of 2023 to 2027, with a prototype scheduled for delivery as soon as 2020, and qualification testing expected to take place between 2022 and 2023. The Griffon NRBC
28371-453: The order of 1.2 m for a ford, 50 cm for a step and 1 m for a ditch. The Griffon is designed to offer STANAG 4569 Level 4 armour protection as standard, being capable of withstanding 14.5 mm armour-piercing ammunition, 155 mm artillery shell splinters, IEDs and mine blasts, thus significantly improving the safety of the soldiers engaged over the VAB . Furthermore, armour protection levels can be raised beyond STANAG Level 4 through
28564-553: The ornate 19th-century Pont de la Fonderie (1893, stone) and Pont d'Auvergne (1892, iron), as well as architect Marc Mimram 's futuristic Passerelle over the Rhine, opened in 2004. The largest square at the centre of the city of Strasbourg is the Place Kléber . Located in the heart of the city's commercial area, it was named after general Jean-Baptiste Kléber , born in Strasbourg in 1753 and assassinated in 1800 in Cairo . In
28757-564: The rear section of the cabin with seats. This novel configuration will enable the French Army to efficiently replace the 30 or so variants of the VAB. The Griffon will be available in six main variants: VTT (all-terrain troop transport vehicle), EPC (command post vehicle), VOA (artillery observation vehicle), SAN (medical evacuation vehicle), MEPAC (on-board 120 mm mortar for contact support) and NRBC (CBRN defense vehicle). Apart from these variants, there are many levels of adaptability for
28950-431: The remotely-operated turret towards this position, and propose firing among other options. This threat discrimination and precise target designation capability improves situational awareness, immediate reaction and the effectiveness of retaliatory fire. Countermeasures yet to equip the Griffon include an active protection system ; one is being developed by Thales and Nexter for integration on SCORPION vehicles under
29143-545: The river to the German town Kehl . The historic core of Strasbourg, however, lies on the Grande Île in the river Ill , which here flows parallel to, and roughly 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from, the Rhine. The natural courses of the two rivers eventually join some distance downstream of Strasbourg, although several artificial waterways now connect them within the city. The city lies in the Upper Rhine Plain , at between 132 and 151 metres (433 and 495 ft) above sea level, with
29336-580: The seat of European institutions since 1949: first of the International Commission on Civil Status and of the Council of Europe , later of the European Parliament , of the European Science Foundation , of Eurocorps , and others as well. Strasbourg is situated at the eastern border of France with Germany. This border is formed by the Rhine , which also forms the eastern border of the modern city, facing across
29529-489: The second-largest library in France after the Bibliothèque nationale de France . It was founded by the German administration after the complete destruction of the previous municipal library in 1871 and holds the unique status of being simultaneously a students' and a national library. The Strasbourg municipal library had been marked erroneously as "City Hall" in a French commercial map, which had been captured and used by
29722-461: The shells' predicted trajectory. This was called deflection gun-laying, where "off-set" angles for range and elevation were set on the gunsight and updated as their target moved. In this method, when the sights were on the target, the barrel was pointed at the target's future position. Range and height of the target determined fuse length. The difficulties increased as aircraft performance improved. The British dealt with range measurement first, when it
29915-643: The single artillery branch has been responsible for both home and overseas ground-based air defence, although there was divided responsibility with the Royal Navy for air defence of the British Isles in World War I . However, during the Second World War , the RAF Regiment was formed to protect airfields everywhere, and this included light air defences. In the later decades of the Cold War this included
30108-449: The situation. Meanwhile, Safran 's Epsilon 10 inertial navigation system provides precise position, autonomous engagement and navigation capabilities to the vehicle, including in GNSS -denied environments. The Griffon' s countermeasures include a laser alert detector, a missile launch detector, a gunshot detection system, an infrared jammer and an anti-IED jammer. It will integrate both
30301-477: The speed and direction of both the target and the projectile. Throughout the 20th century, air defence was one of the fastest-evolving areas of military technology, responding to the evolution of aircraft and exploiting technology such as radar, guided missiles and computing (initially electromechanical analogue computing from the 1930s on, as with equipment described below). Improvements were made to sensors, technical fire control, weapons, and command and control. At
30494-577: The square is a statue of Kléber, under which is a vault containing his remains. On the north side of the square is the Aubette (Orderly Room), built by Jacques François Blondel , architect of the king, in 1765–1772. Strasbourg features a number of prominent parks, of which several are of cultural and historical interest: the Parc de l'Orangerie , laid out as a French garden by André le Nôtre and remodeled as an English garden on behalf of Joséphine de Beauharnais , now displaying noteworthy French gardens,
30687-422: The start of the 20th century these were either very primitive or non-existent. Initially sensors were optical and acoustic devices developed during World War I and continued into the 1930s, but were quickly superseded by radar, which in turn was supplemented by optoelectronics in the 1980s. Command and control remained primitive until the late 1930s, when Britain created an integrated system for ADGB that linked
30880-406: The support and back-up resources of SCORPION units. The two SCORPION vehicles that preceded the Serval facilitated the latter's rapid development, which only took 3 years, as well as its average cost of acquisition of just €1.2 million per vehicle (FY2021); as is the case with the Griffon , this is much less than such a vehicle would've cost had it been developed as a stand-alone project. Like
31073-496: The suspension, supplied by Strasbourg -based company Quiri , the Elips intercom system by Argenteuil -based Elno , the roof-mounted PILAR V acoustic gunfire detection and localization system by Lyon -based Metravib Defence , as well as the vetronics . Featuring a wide range of state-of-the-art technologies, the Jaguar ultimately ended up costing twice as much as expected with an estimated unit cost of €6 million (FY2019), but
31266-456: The system can see an armoured vehicle at a distance of 500 m or a small drone at a distance of 250 m, and detect a human being up to 150 m away. Thanks to its built-in laser warning system, the ANTARES also issues an alert if the vehicle is targeted by a laser rangefinder or designator. It can locate laser threats to within 1.5 degrees as well as detect the launch of an incoming missile, allowing
31459-463: The target and having its height. Second, that the target would maintain a steady course, speed and height. This HAA was to engage targets up to 24,000 ft (7.3 km). Mechanical time fuses were required because the speed of powder burning varied with height, so fuse length was not a simple function of time of flight. Automated fire ensured a constant rate of fire that made it easier to predict where each shell should be individually aimed. In 1925
31652-514: The threat and operational context. Alongside the 30 mm cannon may come the NEROD RF anti-drone jamming rifle from French company MC2 Technologies . There remains the central issue of target detection and tracking as the sensors to be associated with the platform are yet to be decided as of August 2023. Replacing, among others, the PAMELA system, the Serval Mistral will have the dual mission of providing fixed and accompanying surface-to-air defence. Two Mistral-based concepts will coexist. The first
31845-429: The town. A six stories high "Grande bibliothèque", the Médiathèque André Malraux , was inaugurated on 19 September 2008 and is considered the largest in Eastern France. As one of the earliest centres of book-printing in Europe (see above: History), Strasbourg for a long time held a large number of incunabula — books printed before 1500 — in its library as one of its most precious heritages: no less than 7,000. After
32038-540: The turret, meanwhile, incorporates an independent GALIX countermeasure system developed and manufactured by Lacroix Defense and Nexter , which consists of 8 80 mm smoke grenade dischargers linked to the ANTARES laser warning system. It operates alongside the missile launch detector, the PILAR V , the ECLIPSE and the infrared jammer. The GALIX is a self-protection system that makes vehicle protection more reliable through an automatic detection action, which drastically reduces protection engagement time by automating
32231-430: The university attracted numerous students from the Holy Roman Empire , with Goethe , Metternich and Montgelas , who studied law in Strasbourg, among the most prominent. With 19 Nobel prizes in total, Strasbourg is the most eminent French university outside of Paris. Until 2009, there were three universities in Strasbourg , with an approximate total of 48,500 students in 2007, and another 4,500 students attended one of
32424-454: The upland areas of the Vosges Mountains some 20 km (12 mi) to the west and the Black Forest 25 km (16 mi) to the east. This section of the Rhine valley is a major axis of north–south travel, with river traffic on the Rhine itself, and major roads and railways paralleling it on both banks. The city is some 397 kilometres (247 mi) east of Paris . The mouth of the Rhine lies approximately 450 kilometres (280 mi) to
32617-411: The vehicle's development was awarded in February 2018 to Nexter and Texelis . 489 units are expected to be delivered by 2025 and 978 by 2030. Beyond the 978 Serval to be acquired through the SCORPION programme, 1,060 additional Serval vehicles are to be ordered under the VLTP-P segment haut programme and delivered by 2035. The latter are expected to be deployed within the land forces to reinforce
32810-478: The vehicle's direction. The PILAR V is accurate to within 2° in azimuth and 3° in elevation, with a 10% margin for distance estimation. However, if other Griffon or SCORPION vehicles are in the vicinity, their own PILAR V systems will detect the shot as well and can exchange the data instantly. The vetronics will then triangulate to pinpoint the shooter's position and share the information across all vehicles. The vetronics will also be able to automatically direct
33003-399: The vehicle. The SCORPION Common Vetronics ensure the processing and exchange of intra- and inter-vehicle data, enabling collaborative combat. In addition, vetronics play a decisive role in vehicle protection, thanks in particular to algorithms that offer the vehicle commander and his men several options for dealing with a threat, allowing them to opt for the one they deem the most adequate for
33196-409: The war and accumulated large amounts of data that was subjected to extensive analysis. As a result, they published the two-volume Textbook of Anti-Aircraft Gunnery in 1924–1925. It included five key recommendations for HAA equipment: Two assumptions underpinned the British approach to HAA fire; first, aimed fire was the primary method and this was enabled by predicting gun data from visually tracking
33389-437: The war ended, it was clear that the increasing capabilities of aircraft would require better means of acquiring targets and aiming at them. Nevertheless, a pattern had been set: anti-aircraft warfare would employ heavy weapons to attack high-altitude targets and lighter weapons for use when aircraft came to lower altitudes. World War I demonstrated that aircraft could be an important part of the battlefield, but in some nations it
33582-440: The years immediately after World War I, the prospect of another major war seemed remote, particularly in Europe, where the most militarily capable nations were, and little financing was available. Four years of war had seen the creation of a new and technically demanding branch of military activity. Air defence had made huge advances, albeit from a very low starting point. However, it was new and often lacked influential 'friends' in
33775-412: Was 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) in August 2003, during the 2003 European heat wave . This record was broken, on 30 June 2019, when it reached 38.8 °C (101.8 °F) and then on 25 July 2019, when it reached 38.9 °C (102.0 °F). The lowest temperature ever recorded was −23.4 °C (−10.1 °F) in December 1938. Strasbourg's location in the Rhine valley, sheltered from strong winds by
33968-415: Was becoming increasingly obsolete in the face of new and upcoming conflicts. After multiple postponements of a programme to modernize the French Army's Armoured Cavalry Arm , the 2013 White Paper on Defense and National Security recommended the order of 2080 multi-role armoured vehicles (1,958 heavy VBMR and 122 lightweight VBMR ) as well as 248 armoured reconnaissance and combat vehicles ( EBRC ). In 2014,
34161-417: Was capable of providing data suitable for controlling AA guns, and the British Radar, Gun Laying, Mark I , was designed to be used on AA gun positions and was in use by 1939. The Treaty of Versailles prevented Germany having AA weapons, and for example, the Krupps designers joined Bofors in Sweden. Some World War I guns were retained and some covert AA training started in the late 1920s. Germany introduced
34354-413: Was captured by the German army in June 1940 at the end of the Battle of France ( World War II ), and subsequently came under German control again through formal annexation into the Gau Baden -Elsaß under the Nazi Gauleiter Robert Wagner ; since the liberation of the city by the 2nd French Armoured Division under General Leclerc in November 1944, it has again been a French city. In 2016, Strasbourg
34547-433: Was created under the German administration next to the Observatory of Strasbourg , built in 1881, and still owns some greenhouses of those times. The Parc des Contades , although the oldest park of the city, was completely remodeled after World War II. The futuristic Parc des Poteries is an example of European park-conception in the late 1990s. The Jardin des deux Rives , spread over Strasbourg and Kehl on both sides of
34740-581: Was determined by time of flight, but the burning rate of the gunpowder was affected by altitude. The British pom-poms had only contact-fused ammunition. Zeppelins , being hydrogen-filled balloons, were targets for incendiary shells and the British introduced these with airburst fuses, both shrapnel type-forward projection of incendiary "pot" and base ejection of an incendiary stream. The British also fitted tracers to their shells for use at night. Smoke shells were also available for some AA guns, these bursts were used as targets during training. German air attacks on
34933-404: Was electrical; the operator entered the target range and had displays at guns; it was used with their 75 mm. The British Wilson-Dalby gun director used a pair of trackers and mechanical tachymetry; the operator entered the fuse length, and deflection angles were read from the instruments. By the start of World War I , the 77 mm had become the standard German weapon, and came mounted on
35126-533: Was governed by the bishops of Strasbourg ; their rule was reinforced in 873 and then more in 982. In 1262, the citizens violently rebelled against the bishop's rule ( Battle of Hausbergen ) and Strasbourg became a free imperial city . It became a French city in 1681, after the conquest of Alsace by the armies of Louis XIV . In 1871, after the Franco-Prussian War , the city, as part of the Imperial Territory of Alsace–Lorraine , became German again, until 1918 (end of World War I ), when it reverted to France. Strasbourg
35319-417: Was officially announced on 5 December 2014. The long-awaited first stage of the programme had been launched in October that year. This first stage, for a total cost of nearly €5.1 billion (FY2017), includes the replacement of the VAB by the VBMR Griffon , the replacement of the AMX-10 RC , ERC-90 Sagaie and VAB HOT by the EBRC Jaguar , the modernization of the Leclerc tank as well as the development of
35512-518: Was probably first used by the UK when Air Defence of Great Britain (ADGB) was created as a Royal Air Force command in 1925. However, arrangements in the UK were also called "anti-aircraft", abbreviated as AA , a term that remained in general use into the 1950s. After the First World War it was sometimes prefixed by "light" or "heavy" (LAA or HAA) to classify a type of gun or unit. Nicknames for anti-aircraft guns include "AA", "AAA" or "triple-A" (abbreviations of "anti-aircraft artillery"), "flak" (from
35705-439: Was promoted from capital of Alsace to capital of Grand Est . Strasbourg played an important part in the Protestant Reformation , with personalities such as John Calvin , Martin Bucer , Wolfgang Capito , Matthew and Katharina Zell , but also in other aspects of Christianity such as German mysticism , with Johannes Tauler , Pietism , with Philipp Spener , and Reverence for Life , with Albert Schweitzer . Delegates from
35898-406: Was qualified for service in June 2023. It features Safran' s new generation PASEO Crystal high-resolution sensors suite installed on top of a telescopic mast, which integrates an inertial navigation system (derived from the company's Sigma 20 family) based on hemispherical resonator gyroscope (HRG) technology. The PASEO Crystal incorporates five systems: a laser rangefinder, a laser pointer,
36091-426: Was realised that range was the key to producing a better fuse setting. This led to the height/range finder (HRF), the first model being the Barr & Stroud UB2, a two-metre optical coincident rangefinder mounted on a tripod. It measured the distance to the target and the elevation angle, which together gave the height of the aircraft. These were complex instruments and various other methods were also used. The HRF
36284-476: Was replaced by the nine-foot optical base UB 7 and the eighteen-foot optical base UB 10 (only used on static AA sites). Goertz in Germany and Levallois in France produced five m (16 ft) instruments. However, in most countries the main effort in HAA guns until the mid-1930s was improving existing ones, although various new designs were on drawing boards. From the early 1930s eight countries developed radar ; these developments were sufficiently advanced by
36477-505: Was soon joined by the height/fuse indicator (HFI), this was marked with elevation angles and height lines overlaid with fuse length curves, using the height reported by the HRF operator, the necessary fuse length could be read off. However, the problem of deflection settings — "aim-off" — required knowing the rate of change in the target's position. Both France and the UK introduced tachymetric devices to track targets and produce vertical and horizontal deflection angles. The French Brocq system
36670-475: Was the first to mention the name change: in the tenth book of his History of the Franks written shortly after 590 he said that Egidius , Bishop of Reims , accused of plotting against King Childebert II of Austrasia in favor of his uncle King Chilperic I of Neustria , was tried by a synod of Austrasian bishops in Metz in November 590, found guilty and removed from the priesthood, then taken " ad Argentoratensem urbem, quam nunc Strateburgum vocant " ("to
36863-501: Was the guns protecting spotting balloons, in which case the altitude could be accurately measured from the length of the cable holding the balloon. The first issue was ammunition. Before the war it was recognised that ammunition needed to explode in the air. Both high explosive (HE) and shrapnel were used, mostly the former. Airburst fuses were either igniferious (based on a burning fuse) or mechanical (clockwork). Igniferious fuses were not well suited for anti-aircraft use. The fuse length
37056-496: Was the prospect of strategic air attack that was the main issue, presenting both a threat and an opportunity. The experience of four years of air attacks on London by Zeppelins and Gotha G.V bombers had particularly influenced the British and was one of if not the main driver for forming an independent air force. As the capabilities of aircraft and their engines improved it was clear that their role in future war would be even more critical as their range and weapon load grew. However, in
37249-448: Was to become the VBMR-L Serval ), 248 EBRC Jaguar and 200 renovated Leclerc XLR . The first 319 Griffon and 20 Jaguar were ordered in April 2017. In the 2019-2025 LPM adopted in July 2018, the SCORPION programme's targets were revised upwards with the planned acquisition of a total of 1,872 VBMR Griffon , 978 VMBR-L Serval , 300 EBRC Jaguar as well as the upgrade of 200 Leclerc tanks and 18 DCL armoured recovery vehicles to
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