On September 12, 2022, the French Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) qualified the ambulance (SAN, Sanitary) version of the Griffon Armoured medical evacuation vehicle as part of the SCORPION programme. The ambulance version is one of the four main versions of the Griffon, along with the troop transport (VTT), command post (EPC) and artillery observation (VOA) versions. This is an ambulance vehicle configuration, allowing the care and evacuation of the injured. The Nexter, Arquus and Thales teams remain fully mobilised to provide the French Army with the equipment it needs to fulfil the missions it has been assigned today.
In the SAN version, the Griffon is equipped with a medical module, fittings adapted to the storage and integration of medical equipment, and a system for assisting the loading of the injured consisting of a mobile table and a lifting winch. The interior configuration can accommodate seated or lying wounded with a capacity of four stretchers. The SAN version has all the elements common to the Griffons (mobility, armament, protection and connectivity). The qualification tests for this sanitary version were carried out in the DGA’s expertise and test centres with the assistance of the French Armed Forces Health Service.
They mainly concerned the general ergonomics of the medical module, the ergonomics of the casualty loading aid system, the mine/IED protection of personnel, the electromagnetic compatibility of equipment and the electrical networks. The SCORPION programme is developed according to an incremental approach, allowing the earliest delivery in the forces of each of the capacities as soon as they are mature. As such, the qualifications of the different versions of the Griffon are carried out successively by the DGA. The artillery observation vehicle version is expected to be qualified in the coming months.
The VBMR (Véhicule Blinde Multi-Role) Griffon is a French multi-purpose armoured personnel carrier developed and manufactured by Nexter in cooperation with Arquus and Thales. Entering service in 2018, it will, alongside the VBMR-L Serval. The vehicle is based on a 6×6 commercial all-terrain truck chassis and will carry up to eight infantry soldiers. The consortium building the “Griffon” and “Jaguar” is contractually obliged to keep the price per Griffon under €1 million. Currently, six versions of the Griffon are planned , with four of these (Armored Personnel Carrier, Command Post, Ambulance, and Artillery Observer) ordered in the first tranche.
