Thales, Nexter, Sagem receive Scorpion armored vehicles technical architecture contract

The general architecture contract for the Scorpion program was awarded by the French armaments agency, DGA, to an industry team comprising Thales, Nexter and Sagem. The contract calls for the final definition of the Scorpion system’s architecture, and to prepare technical choices due to be made in 2012. DGA will select the prime contractors for the program before the end of 2013. The total budget for the Scorpion program is valued at approximately 5 billion euros. The following phase will see the delivery of the first systems, the first 1,000 multirole armoured vehicles in 2016, and the first 70 reconnaissance vehicles which will replace, beginning in 2019, the AMX-10RC and Sagaie gun-armed wheeled armoured vehicles. Also planned are the first upgrade of the Leclerc main battle tank, and the introduction of the Scorpion Information and Combat System (SICS). The Scorpion program is designed to modernize the French army’s Joint Tactical Groups (GTIA). This includes replacing armoured vehicles dating back to the 1970s, to improve the protection of troops and equipment, and to improve the effectiveness of both combat troops and weapon systems by introducing a network of information and combat systems.