Contract awarded for supply of armoured vehicles to Belgium

A government-to-government strategic agreement between France and Belgium project has come into effect, and a subsequent contract for the procurement of armoured vehicles for the Belgian forces has been awarded to French industry.

The cooperation agreement between the two governments for the development of land mobility systems came into effect on 21 June 2019, which led on to an award of the Capacité Motorisée (CaMo) contract by the French DGA defence procurement agency to French industry to supply Belgium with Griffon and Jaguar vehicles. 

Belgium will take delivery of 382 Griffon multi-role armoured vehicles and 60 Jaguar data-driven reconnaissance and combat vehicles between 2025 and 2030, both of which are developed by a consortium formed of Nexter, Thales and Arquus.

They will be equipped to the specifications of France's Scorpion land modernisation programme and will be compatible with the equivalent French vehicles that are being procured.

The Belgian and French land forces will conduct an initial joint training exercise in Belgium in September 2019 to test command procedures.

CaMo is a strategic partnership between the land components of the French and Belgian armed forces, and is an example of the steps being taken to build an operational European defence community. 

The partnership could be further expanded under permanent structured cooperation arrangements.