The trends that the army will see two decades from now are beginning to emerge today, and will only grow more prominent by 2040, he said. The reason for the two-phased approach is that French military thinkers see the battlefields of 20 as being different, he said. Titan will start off as a series of studies that “will identify the best technological solutions,” he said. Titan will start in 2030 - a few years before Scorpion wraps up - and will run through 2045 with a concentration on modernizing heavy tanks, artillery and combat helicopters, Goujon said. “In light of this success with the realization of Scorpion - and without waiting for it to come to fruition - the army must already think about the next phase,” he said during a talk at the Eurosatory defense trade show in Paris. They will replace 4x4 armored personnel carriers, which have been in the inventory since the 1970s. The same consortium is building the Griffon multi-role armored vehicle as part of the Scorpion program. They will replace three existing vehicle platforms: the AMX-10RC tank destroyer, the ERC-90 Sagaie armored reconnaissance vehicle and the VAB HOT Mephisto armored personnel carrier.

They are manufactured by a consortium comprising French contractors Nexter, Arquus and Thales. The army received its first batch of Jaguar armored reconnaissance and combat vehicles in February and since then has ordered more. Equipment from that program is now being delivered to the force and is already being used in operations in Sub-Saharan Africa, he said. The roots of Scorpion took hold 20 years ago. forces’ push to connect sensors and shooters known as joint all domain command and control, France calls its effort “combined collaborative combat,” he said. Scorpion is seeking to upgrade the army’s light and medium tanks and improve their connectivity. Arnaud Goujon, chief of plans at the French army headquarters, said the service is already jumpstarting plans for a second step of upgrades it calls “Titan.” The NATO member’s army is in the middle of a 20-year modernization program called “Scorpion” that takes it through 2040.Ĭol.

PARIS - While still in the throes of its biggest modernization push since World War II, the French army is already looking at what comes afterward.

Future military scorpion tanks