In May 2023, during the debates on the Military Programming Law [LPM] 2024-30, the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, spoke of “contingencies” regarding the Armored Reconnaissance and Combat Vehicle [EBRC] Jaguar, successor to the AMX-10RC within the “light” cavalry regiments of the Army. And added: “We’re going to have to put in the work to meet the deadlines.”
Developed as part of the SCORPION program [Synergie du contact renforcée par la polyvalence et l’infovalorisation]the Jaguar had a problem with its turret, which was not yet “stabilized”. Hence the relatively significant delays in the deliveries of these devices to the Army.
A few weeks later, during a hearing in the Senate, General Pierre Schill, the Chief of Staff of the Army [CEMAT]admitted that “adjustments” were necessary before declaring the Jaguar operational. And to announce that a new standard for this armored vehicle would be ready during the first half of 2024.
However, last May, the 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment [REC] deployed a few Jaguars in Estonia, as part of the Lynx mission, carried out as part of NATO reassurance measures. And this while the Army had not yet declared the full operational capacity of this machine.
However, the turret problem has been fixed. Or, at least, it’s about to be. This is in fact what General Schill indicated to the deputies of the Defense Committee on October 16.
“The Jaguar is a very beautiful machine. […] Our soldiers of the 1st REC, 1st Spahis, RICM [Régiment d’Infanterie Chars de Marine] and you are RIMa [Régiment d’Infanterie de Marine]who have it, love this machine. And they feel that it will be a very good machine,” General Schill first insisted.
However, he continued, “given the integration of all these systems which we call vetronic […]he has youthful difficulties.” As he indicated last year, the solution to overcoming these difficulties involves the development of new versions [ou incréments].
“Today, we are in the process of receiving the R2 version tanks and retrofitting” all those previously delivered “into this version,” CEMAT said. “In fact, the developments are software,” he clarified.
And added: “Today we have Jaguars that fire on moving targets from their main weapon [le canon 40CTA, ndlr] and who fire on moving targets simultaneously from their secondary weapon [une mitrailleuse téléopérée de 7,62 mm, ndlr] ».
These Jaguars “eliminated a whole portion of the ‘turret’ failures” which were linked to electrical problems, insisted General Schill.
As for the deployment of Jaguar in Estonia, the CEMAT justified it by explaining that the Army has confidence “in this armored vehicle” to be at least at the level of the AMX-10RC, even if it is not still at the level” of all the expectations placed on him. It will be when it has the ability to fire Akeron MP anti-tank missiles “beyond direct line of sight,” he said.
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