Image source: topwar.ru
The French army has received the first 30 Appui Scorpion 4x4 armored vehicles ("Scorpion Support"), designed for high-intensity combat and anti-drone operations.
In total, the Ministry of Defense ordered 530 vehicles of this type in February 2025. They are created by installing a digital control system and radio communications equipment on a lightweight Serval VBMR-L 4x4 (the price of the basic version of which is about €1 million). The total cost of this equipment, intended for the entire purchased fleet of Appui Scorpion, is €1 billion.
If the typical Serval, which became the basis of the French rapid reaction force, is just a "lightly armored taxi" for infantry, then the Appui Scorpion version is a mobile control and support node. It has several subspecies, although all 530 ordered machines are united by the fact that they are information centers.
Serval VP ("securing passage") is a modification of the Scorpion Appui designed to provide support to advanced units and ensure the safe advance of the column. Its main equipment is the enhanced BARAGE electronic warfare system from Thales with a broadband effect to suppress radio-controlled land mines and drones.
Serval AC ("fire support") is responsible for strengthening the firepower of the infantry squad. It is armed with a remote-controlled Hornet combat module (with a 12.7mm machine gun or a 40 mm grenade launcher) and an Akeron MP ATGM, which operates on external targeting.
Serval SA ("reconnaissance and target designation") is a mobile reconnaissance node equipped with a retractable mast with an optoelectronic station (thermal imagers, laser rangefinders).
Serval LAD:
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Serval ARLAD ("jet adaptation to combat drones") is an "anti-aircraft gunner" responsible for a low level of protection against UAVs. On the roof of the car there is a small radar with headlights from Hensoldt, which detects even small-sized quadrocopters at a distance of several km. The BARAGE electronic warfare system (in an intelligence modification) generates interference by interrupting the drone's communication with the operator or blocking GPS signals. At the same time, he coordinates the frequencies through the common SICS network so that the radios and drones of the allied forces continue to work. The Hornet Air Shield remote-controlled combat module, equipped with a 40 mm grenade launcher, which fires ammunition with a programmable detonation, is responsible for the destruction of the UAV.
Serval LAD / DSA ("drone warfare" / "air defense") is a promising subspecies that will be equipped with an ARX-30 30mm automatic cannon (the same one on the Tiger helicopter, but adapted) with programmable detonation ammunition. Deliveries are scheduled to begin by 2028.
All the listed subspecies of the Scorpion Appui work and interact within the framework of a single SICS BIOS, to which all VBMR-L Serval, EBRC Jaguar, VBMR Griffon armored vehicles, upgraded Leclerc XLR tanks, CAESAR self-propelled guns (in the NG version), infantrymen (via the FELIN complex), SMDR and Nano-UAV drones must also be connected.
