On 6 and 7 July 2021, Arquus organised the third edition of the Technoday, a conference dedicated to innovation in the field of land defence. On this occasion, the company presented the results of the work carried out over the last two years in future-oriented areas ranging from power generation in operations to innovative support and maintenance solutions.
The Technoday 2021 was an opportunity to present, in very concrete terms, the progress of work in several fields, and to look ahead to the land mobility programs of tomorrow. These two days were also an opportunity to exchange ideas, to compare points of view, to answer questions and to guide the work of Arquus engineers.
On the occasion of this second edition of Technoday, Arquus has welcomed many military andcivilian personalities, who have come to discuss the evolution of land combat and the answers to thechallenges facing the Army. This year, Arquus has chosen to focus on six major themes: energytransition, robotisation, digitalisation, survivability, support, but also on innovations in the industrialfield through a workshop dedicated to the innovative factory. Innovation is everyone's business,every day. This is why Arquus has also presented its everyday innovations, developed in its factoriesor in the field close to the forces.
The whole event was completed by a conference led on Tuesday 6th by Philippe Divry, SVP GroupTrucks Strategy of the Volvo Group, and on Wednesday 7th by General Bertrand Boyard, SpecialAdvisor to the President Emmanuel Levacher, in charge of European Affairs.
For the very first time, Arquus has opened its doors to partner companies, with whom the companyworks hand in hand to ensure the improvement of its solutions and the development of breakthroughinnovations. Arquus is pleased to welcome Cerbair, Internest, Robotics Industrie, Prévision IO,Squadrone and Air Captif, as well as the VEDECOM Institute.
To build its innovation, Arquus also works with leading engineering schools such as ENSTABretagne. These partnerships are intended by Arquus to create new perspectives on the future ofland defence applications and meet the growing demand from students who want to broaden theirskills by training in the technologies and major challenges of land systems engineering in highlytechnical fields. In this context, Arquus created in 2018 a teaching chair dedicated to defenceinnovation at ENSTA ParisTech.
Arquus also presented electric equipment on loan from Volvo Construction Equipment: an electriccompact excavator, a wheel loader and a fast loader. The company is also exhibiting a 100% electricD ZE truck on loan from Renault Trucks. This new generation industrial vehicle has a GVW of 16tons and a maximum range of 400km.
These vehicles illustrate the technological and industrial strength of the Volvo Group, from whichArquus benefits beyond its own research and expertise centres, but also the very practical nature ofthe solutions Arquus offers for military applications. Based on civilian technologies that have alreadybeen proven under very difficult conditions, they are particularly well suited to the very specific usesof the battlefield.
A synthesis of all the company’s historical know-how in vehicle design, robust and relevanttechnology development and systems integration, the Scarabee is at the heart of Arquus’presentations during these Technoday. It embeds the company’s latest advances in survivability,digitalisation, robotisation and energy.
In addition to these technological building blocks, the Scarabee (photo) is presented at Technoday as aplatform designed to accommodate numerous plug-and-play systems, thanks to Arquus’ Battlenetvetronics suite. This Battle Management System (BMS) aggregates the various data from thevehicle’s different systems, sensors and effectors, presenting all the information on the vehicle'sstatus and tactical situation on a single screen and lightening the mental load of the Commander.
As part of Technoday, the Scarabee is equipped with a remotely operated turret combining optronics,an effector and a self-protection solution thanks to an independent smoke-launching crown, as wellas an aerial drone that can be piloted from Battlenet, which reminds us of the importance of theproblem of autonomous or semi-autonomous objects and the relevance of their association with landvehicles. Arquus is also continuing to work on the Mission Extender, a robotic module designed toaccompany the Scarabee and increase its tactical capabilities.
Finally, in the context of anti-drone warfare, Arquus is considering the development of newcapabilities by integrating detection, jamming and specific effector functions.
Launched commercially at IDEX 2021 exhibition in Abu Dhabi, the Scarabee is a mature vehicle, readyfor industrialisation, but also a technology demonstrator, some of whose building blocks could be usedin the design of future armoured, light or medium vehicles. In this respect, Arquus is part of theFAMOUS (European Future Highly Mobile Augmented Armoured Systems) group, which was set upto strengthen links between European partners and optimise synergies, standardisation andinteroperability in the field of land armoured vehicles.
Arquus once again reaffirms its philosophy of innovation. Refusing innovation for innovation's sake,the company works, often with its own funds, but also through PEAs, on research topics with veryconcrete applications for the military, and which aim to simplify the use and logistics of equipment,while saving the physical and mental potential of our soldiers and reducing energy expenditure and thecost of vehicles.
Arquus also innovates by improving existing equipment, by working on mechanics, tools, ergonomicsand daily management, with the aim of facilitating the work of tomorrow's operators and maintainers.
For Arquus, innovation means constantly questioning itself and looking for simpler, more economicalsolutions. In the future challenges of tomorrow, Arquus wants to be more than ever at the side of theforces, by identifying with and for them the opportunities of gains on the ground and by feeding off theirfeedback.
ARQUUS is a French Defense company, leader of land mobility solutions. Historical partner of the armies, Arquus has morethan 25,000 vehicles currently in service in the French Army. Arquus takes part in the VBMR GRIFFON and EBRC JAGUARprograms, which are the new generation of the French Army’s combat vehicles, in the framework of a Temporary Groupingof Companies. Arquus is notably in charge of designing and delivering the drivelines and the self-defense weapon systemsfor these two vehicles. Arquus also takes charge of all the logistics for the spare parts and organs of the VBMR and EBRCvehicles, thanks to its new logistics facility in Garchizy, France.
Expert of support solutions, with more than 20,000 vehicles serviceddaily, Arquus presents complete support offers, built on the company’s historical knowledge.
