In the frame of the SCORPION program (modernization of the contact combat capabilities of the Army), ARQUUS opened a new logistics center on its Centre de Maintien en Condition Opérationnelle (CMCO - Operational Readiness Center) of Fourchambault (Nièvre, Burgundy).
The Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA - French DNA), which directs the program on behalf of the Ministry of the Armies, integrated a comprehensive program for service support for all Scorpion equipment and vehicles from the start.
This logistics center will be the only center for all parts and spares of both Griffon and Jaguar armored combat vehicles, which will become the main infantry and cavalry vehicles for the Army. It will also become the key center for all spares for most of the 25,000 ARQUUS vehicles currently in service in the French Army.
The opening of this new logistics platform took place on 07 December under the patronage of Lieutenant General Francis Autran, Central Director of the Structure intégrée du maintien en condition opérationnelle des matériels terrestres (Integrated Structure for the Operationnal Readiness of Land Equipment), and of General François Thiefin, Deputy officer for Support operations to the Deputy Army Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs.
The plant will service on very short notice all industrial and institutional partners, dispatching parts and spares for the Griffon and Jaguar vehicles developed by ARQUUS, Nexter and Thales. ARQUUS notably produces the drivelines and teleoperated small-caliber weapon systems which will equip both vehicles.
The opening of the Centre de Maintien en Condition Opérationnelle (Center for Operational Readiness) is a key moment for Land forces’ operational readiness. It is also a key step for the French Defense, considering the importance of the Scorpion program for the armed forces for 2025.
It is indeed a capital moment for ARQUUS, historical partner of the armies, which accompanies, supports and advises the Land Army throughout its transformations during the last century. Such mutations include the adoption of tanks (Ft-17), cavalry equipment (EBR, ERC), reconnaissance and spotting (AML, VBL).
This historical partnership, which originates from a fruitful symbiosis between ARQUUS, the armies and the DGA (French DNA), currently translates into the development of the Griffon and Jaguar armored vehicles of the Scorpion program (in partnership with Nexter and Thales), designed to equip tomorrow’s land forces and to serve during the decades to come.
To answer this program’s needs, ARQUUS has set innovative support and logistics infrastructures. The new logistics site in Fourchambault enables new modern support solutions, designed to answer major equipment and availability challenges, with the sole objective of serving, with more and more reactivity, as close as possible to the armed forces.
Former center of the 15th BSMAT (15th Land Equipment Support Base), Fourchambault is now a major production plant for armored cabins for the ARQUUS vehicles.
Fourchambault boasts comprehensive capabilities for industrial maintenance, currently focused on regenerating current-generation tactical vehicles, but which could also serve the programs of the future.
ARQUUS has invested in a very modern logistics center. It will manage, store and dispatch more than 100,000 references directly to the clients’ support bases in less than 72 hours.
Under the Scorpion program, that logistics plant will take charge of all the spare parts for the VBMR and EBRC vehicles.
The plant occupies an area of about 20,000 square meters, including 15,000sqm for storage 30,000 references, 6,000 storage points, 6,000 picking points, and 2km of racks on 6 levels.
European leader for light and medium wheeled armored vehicles, ARQUUS currently employs 1,500 collaborators, on 5 production plants and two tertiary sites in France.
