Tests begin for first new French SOF patrol vehicles
VOS-APP vehicle pictured in the Technamm factory near Marseille, southern France. (Photo: Technamm)
French special forces have begun testing the first pair of production 6x6 VOS-APP patrol vehicles that will succeed the VLRA, which has been in service since the 1970s.
Since its first missions in 1992, French Special Operations Command has depended on the 1970s-vintage ACMAT VLRA for liaison, reconnaissance and support operations.
While this vehicle proved easy to maintain in conditions such as in Africa and Afghanistan, it has had its day and in 2016, France launched the PLFS heavyweight vehicle programme to replace it with Technamm as main contractor.
An initial Standard 1 design proved unsatisfactory — 25 vehicles were produced as a UOR and saw no active service — so the Technamm team developed the VOS-APP (Special Operations Vehicle – Support) as a PLFS 2 platform that
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