The technological change of the Army, the case of the Scorpion program

The Army has entered more than ever into a period of extensive renewal of many of its equipment. Many of them are currently out of breath, not only by their entry into service, which can be as much as four decades, but also by the very fast pace of external operations in recent years. Thus, all the equipment of the ground forces are concerned by the current equipment renewal, such as assault rifles (bidding of the Future Individual Weapon), infantry rockets (rocket program NG), anti-tank missiles (Mid-Range Missile Program), maneuver helicopters (NH90 program), information systems (SIA C2 contract) or communication systems (CONTACT program).

But within the new organizational model [1] “Au Contact! The SCORPION program (Synergie du Contact Reinforced by the Versatility of Infoval- ation) occupies a major place in the Army and its many efforts to renew its equipment. Widely honored by the Ministry of Defense at Eurosatory 2016, the SCORPION program was officially launched in December 2014. It envisages no more and no less than the complete modernization of Combat Battlegroups (GTIA) through massive use but smart modern digital technologies. Tactical unit of conduct of the combined arms action par excellence, the GTIA gather around the same command all the necessary specialties for combat (infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineering, transmissions, logistics …), in different proportions according to the threat, the theater of operations or the choice of the corps commander.

The SCORPION program no longer foresees a juxtaposition of different means, as is the case today for the constitution of the GTIA, but rather the integration of several platforms in the same homogeneous system. This is known as system of systems (SdS). For the Army, we must distinguish three distinct objectives:

First of all, it is a question of replacing end-of-life equipment or reaching limits in terms of interoperability. The armored vehicles in the middle segment are indeed marked by their very high wear and therefore their inability to evolve in the future. The AMX-10RC and the VAB (Armored Front Vehicle) HOT missile launchers will be replaced by 248 EBRC (Armored Armored Wheels) Jaguar. The troop transport VAB is partially replaced by the 1,722 VBMR (Multi Armored Vehicle) Griffon. Clearly, three families of vehicles will be replaced by the VBMR and the EBRC. In addition to this, 358 VBMR-L (Multi-Light Armored Vehicle Light) should be acquired off-the-shelf from 2019. Regarding the high-intensity combat capabilities, the Leclerc SXXI tank fleet will be upgraded to the XLR standard, 200 to be delivered between 2020 and 2028 for 330 million euros.

It is then a question of optimizing the contact capacities of the materials by an extremely advanced infovalorization. The sharing of information between the materials mentioned above is at the heart of the SCORPION program. Thus, the SICS (Scorpion Information and Communication System) will allow to replace the five existing terminal systems currently. This standardization of the tactical leader’s interfaces with the soldier, which is very intuitive and reactive compared to previous systems, allows the army to speak of “collaborative combat” [2], to designate a kind of outcome of the digitization of the battle space, started since the 2000s. The operational preparation will also be boosted, since the computer programs necessary for the simulation will be directly embedded in the vehicles.

Finally, it is a question of rationalizing this fleet of armored vehicles by promoting commonality of equipment. Thus, the Griffon and the Jaguar share many elements, both in terms of mechanics and electronics or armament. Despite the fact that the Griffon is available in six versions (transport, embedded mortar, artillery observation, NRBC, medical evacuation and command post), its structure (chassis and engine) remains common. Versions depend only on the addition of specific weapon systems. Finally, the commonality of the equipment makes it possible to reduce the logistic footprint in a theater of operations but also to greatly reduce the costs of maintenance in operational conditions (MCO) of the vehicles. In the long term, vehicle evolution capabilities will enable platforms that are theoretically capable of responding to a very broad spectrum of present and future threats.

The first phase of the program, between 2018-2025, equips two joint brigades with 110 Jaguar, 780 Griffon and 200 light VBMR. The second phase provides for the establishment of GPS jammer 18 GTIA SCORPION from 2023, including a total of 200 Leclerc XLR, 248 Jaguar, 1,722 VBMR Griffon and 348 light VBMR evoked. It should be noted that this second phase also provides for the complete integration of the 18,552 FELIN equipment (infantryman with equipment and integrated links) in service within the SCORPION system. In total, this program should cost more than 6 billion euros over 18 years if it does not meet delays. In the end, the SCORPION program calls for two interesting remarks beyond doctrinal or operational perspectives.

The first remark is the return of the “heavy” in the French arsenal. With the change in the geopolitical situation in the 1990s, the military institution has seen a proliferation of external operations formats that are unsuitable for the engagement of our heavy armored capabilities. Although the Leclerc tanks were actually used for some time in Kosovo and Lebanon, they did not experience the ordeal of fire (note that the United Arab Emirates recently used their Leclerc tanks against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, with some success) and played only a purely dissuasive role. The Army also did not choose to deploy them in Afghanistan, as the Canadians, Danes or Americans do, for example, with their Leopard C2, 2A5DK and M1A2 Abrams tanks. For Afghanistan as for Mali or the Central African Republic, it is indeed the VBCI, AMX-10RC or Sagaie that have been preferred for operational and logistical reasons. This particular strategic context finally resulted in a large deflation of the heavy armor fleet: from 1,500 initially planned, the number of Leclerc tanks dropped to 406 actually ordered. The 2008 White Paper provided 254 for the next LPM. Today, only 228 are officially in the park, a figure to be relativized by their very high maintenance cost (342.123 € / year per tank in 2014, nearly 10 times the unit cost of the VBCI). Only 42 would be so operational today. If the format of the battle tank park is reduced once again to reach 200 by 2020, this upgrading to the XLR standard will allow it to remain in service until at least 2040, thus definitively giving credence to the idea of ​​the relevance. heavy armored means for France.