The French defense procurement agency DGA has placed a serial production contract for the first 364 Serval light armored vehicles after completing prototype tests.
Nexter and Texelis will now start work on delivering the vehicles from 2022. First 12 units are expected to be delivered in the first half of 2022, with another 96 scheduled for delivery in the second half of the year.
The vehicles are currently in the qualification process with around ten prototypes undergoing tests.
Serval, alongside the Griffon and Jaguar vehicles, will be replacing the French Army’s Véhicule de l’avant blindé or VAB that has been in service since the 1970s.
France expects to receive a total of 1,872 Griffons and 300 Jaguars as part of the country’s Scorpion program, which encompasses the delivery of Griffons and Jaguars, in addition to smaller Serval light armored vehicles and modernized Leclerc main battle tanks. At 2,038 planned units, the Serval is poised to become the workhorse in the fleet.
The Serval is a 15-ton multi-role armored vehicle which integrates various equipment common to other Scorpion vehicles, especially the electronic core, a turret remotely operated from the passenger compartment, threat sensors and the Scorpion combat information system (SICS).
Based on a modular architecture, Nexter and Texelis have developed three main versions of this weapon system (patrol, intelligence and reconnaissance, and communications relay), themselves available in numerous variants.
Designed to operate in combat zones, the Serval will complement the heavy multi-role armored vehicle Griffon (EBMR) and the armored reconnaissance and combat vehicle Jaguar (EBRC) that will equip the land task force’s armored middle segment.
Additionally, Nexter and Texelis are offering a system based on the Serval as part of a procedure launched by the gendarmerie to renew its fleet of armored vehicles.
