The French Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) qualifies the SAN (Sanitary) medical version of the Griffon 6×6 armoured vehicle.
~
Press Release, Paris, 22 September 2022: [auto-translated] On September 12, 2022, the Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) qualified the medical version of the Griffon vehicle as part of the SCORPION programme.
- The medical version is one of the four main versions of the Griffon, along with the troop transport (VTT), command post (EPC) and artillery observation (VOA) versions. This is an ambulance vehicle configuration, allowing the care and evacuation of the injured.
- The 2019-2025 Military Programming Law (LPM) provides for the production of more than 3,000 medium armoured vehicles (Griffon, MEPAC Jaguar and Serval) through the SCORPION programme. 1,818 Griffon vehicles and 54 MEPACs will be in service in the Army by 2030, including 196 in medical version. The first sanitary Griffons will be delivered in 2023.
- The orders placed within the framework of the SCORPION programme irrigate the entire French Defense Industrial and Technological Base (BITD) in the land domain.
A 24.5-tonne armoured vehicle, the Griffon has been gradually replacing the forward armoured vehicle (VAB) since 2019 for the support and transport of combatants equipped with the Félin weapon system as close as possible to combat. 395 Griffons have already been delivered, 335 in troop transport version and 60 in command post version.
In the SAN version, the Griffon is equipped with a medical module, fittings adapted to the storage and integration of medical equipment, and a system for assisting the loading of the injured consisting of a mobile table and a lifting winch. The interior configuration can accommodate seated or lying wounded with a capacity of four stretchers. The SAN version has all the elements common to the Griffons (mobility, armament, protection and connectivity).
The qualification tests for this sanitary version were carried out in the DGA’s expertise and test centres with the assistance of the French Armed Forces Health Service. They mainly concerned the general ergonomics of the medical module, the ergonomics of the casualty loading aid system, the mine/IED protection of personnel, the electromagnetic compatibility of equipment and the electrical networks.
The SCORPION programme is developed according to an incremental approach, allowing the earliest delivery in the forces of each of the capacities as soon as they are mature. As such, the qualifications of the different versions of the Griffon are carried out successively by the DGA. The artillery observation vehicle version is expected to be qualified in the coming months.
~
