The French Ministry of Defence procurement agency DGA (Direction Générale de l´Armement) has received the first BAE Systems Hägglunds AB BvS 10 MKII armoured all terrain vehicle of 53 units procured to BAE Systems Global Combat Systems to equip the French Army (Armée de Terre).

French company Panhard General Defense is responsible to integrate several equipment including the armament, communications suite and the Sagem SA SITEL (Système d’Information Terminal Elémentaire) tactical information system on the vehicle known as VHM (Véhicule à Haute Mobilité).

VHM v-shaped hull articulate armoured vehicle has a weight of 14 tonnes, a length of 7,60 meters, a top speed of 65 km/h, a payload of 5 tonnes and a range of 250 km. It can transport 11 combatants equipped with Sagem SA FELIN (Fantassin à Équipement et Liaisons Intégrés) dismounted soldier system.

The troop carrier configuration of VHM is equipped with the Panhard General Defense PL80 manually operated protected ring mount which is armed with a 12.7mm heavy machine gun, slat armor (front, rear and sides), a multiple antenna mount system, a basket for the transport of equipment in the top of the hull (in the rear vehicle) and smoke grenade launchers.

The fleet includes provisions to accommodate light weapons ammunition, MBDA Eryx anti-armour missiles, 81mm mortar, MBDA MILAN anti-tank missiles, SAAB Bofors Dynamics AT4CS anti-armour rounds and FELIN´s batteries charger.

The remaining vehicles in the confirmed initial batch of 53 will be delivered by the end of next year. The contract awarded in December 2009 includes training, a through-life support package and an option for 76 additional vehicles.

(STAT CIC/GM D.Dupuis).