Franco-German joint venture KNDS has announced that it has delivered the 135th Serval multirole light armored vehicle to the French Armed Forces.
As noted by the company, the first 4 vehicles were delivered in May 2022 under the Ministry of Defense’s SCORPION program to modernize the Army’s fighting vehicles and tech.
The Serval is a 4×4 multi-role armored vehicle manufactured by French state-owned defense systems integrator Nexter Systems in collaboration with mobility solutions provider Texelis.
Like the other SCORPION vehicles, the Serval incorporates a remotely-operated turret supplied by Arquus and armed with a machine gun, as well as the on-board electronic systems common to all SCORPION vehicles, including the CONTACT radio, the BARAGE jammer and the SICS. The latter uses new real-time digital communication technologies to speed up the transmission of orders and reports, and facilitates understanding of the battlefield thanks to an interactive map, providing rear commanders with an overall view of operations.
Serval vehicles are produced in Roanne, in the Nexter (which is part of the European land defense systems group KNDS alongside Germany’s Krauss-Maffei Wegmann), production plant, and designed to replace the 1970s-era VAB armored personnel carriers.
Weighing between 15 and 17 tons, the Servals will be able to carry, in addition to the two crew members, up to eight men equipped with the Félin system.