The French Army’s new Jaguar armored vehicle has fired its first MMP medium-range missile as part of its qualification trials.
Jaguar is one of three new vehicles developed under the French Army Scorpion program aimed at replacing the service’s Véhicule de l’avant blindé, or VAB, that has been in service since the 1970s.
The first missile firing took place in April and was supported by the missile maker MBDA and Nexter, who is responsible for delivering the turrets for the armored reconnaissance and combat vehicles (EBRC).
Launched from the retractable pod on the Jaguar’s turret in two-missile configuration, the MMP successfully hit its target, according to MBDA.
The integration of MMP onto Jaguar is being carried out in stages during qualification. This firing is the first stage, successfully demonstrating hitting a fixed target. The system will offer the capability to destroy fixed or mobile hardened land targets, including up to the latest generation of tanks. Targeting will be direct or beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS).
MMP’s capabilities – integrated into the Jaguar’s turret by Nexter, alongside the remote controlled weapon station developed by Arquus, the Scorpion common vetronics solution developed by Thales and the 40mm cannon developed by CTAI – gives the Jaguar a key role in collaborative combat.
During this demonstration, the Optrolead PASEO battlefield surveillance sight interfaced with the missile system, offering real-time optronic acquisition by day and by night.
“This firing marks an important first step of the work conducted with Nexter to develop the Jaguar turret and integrate the MMP into a weapon system built on the latest technological solutions. This two-missile turret configuration considerably expands the vehicle’s firepower,” MBDA’s Frédéric Michaud said.
The French Army plans to buy a total of 300 Jaguars under the Scorpion program.
Additionally, the service will buy up to 1,872 Griffon multi-role heavy armored vehicles (VBMR) and 2,038 Serval light armored vehicles, which are poised to become the workhorse in the fleet.
