To replace AMX-10 light tanks and armored forward vehicles (VAB) sold to Ukraine, the French Ministry of the Armed Forces plans to order 130 additional armored vehicles -38 Jaguar and 92 Griffin. Thus, in an amendment to military programming bill (LPM) 2024-2030 tabled before the examination of the text in session at the National embly, the government plans to have 238 Jaguars in the fleet by 2030, armored reconnaissance and combat vehicles equipped with a cannon of 40 mm, against 200 planned in a first version of the text.
Similarly, he now expects a total of 1,437 Griffon tanks in 2030, against 1,345 initially planned. By the end of 2023, the army is expected to have 60 Jaguars and 575 Griffons. “In order not to weigh on the format of the armies, the government will finance outside the budgetary resources of the LPM the replenishment of older equipment ceded to Ukraine”, specifies the government in the presentation of this amendment.
France has donated several dozen since January – it refuses to specify the exact number – of AMX-10 armored vehicles, reconnaissance vehicles equipped with a cannon, and VAB troop carriers. The replacement of these old armored vehicles, which were beginning to be gradually withdrawn from service, is not done on the basis of a one-to-one ratio, it was said in the entourage of the Minister of the Armies Sébastien Lecornu.
“Limit the load peaks of the manufacturers concerned”
This is a “replacement by equivalent capabilities to preserve the format of the armies in order to meet operational contracts”, according to this source. “The rate of delivery of these additional armored vehicles will be done with the concern of limiting the load peaks of the manufacturers concerned and in coherence with the delivery of ancillary equipment (such as infrastructures)”, specifies the government in the presentation explaining its amendment. .
The military programming bill provides 413.3 billion euros in resources for the armies between 2024 and 2030. To increase the effort in certain key areas, the government has planned to spread out the delivery of numerous materials. The final fleet of 300 Jaguars and 1,818 Griffons is now planned for 2035, compared to 2030 planned by the previous LPM.