France celebrates its National Day on the 14th of July with an invariably impressive military parade on and above the Champs Elysées, Paris. The 2022 edition sees for the first time the participation of the new EBRC Jaguar reconnaissance and combat vehicle. Army Recognition was invited to attend the rehearsals of the military parade on the former French air base located at Brétigny.
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EBRC Jaguar of the 1st Régiment de Chasseurs d'Afrique at the National Day military parade 2022 rehearsal on the former Air Force Base of Brétigny (Picture source: Army Recognition)
Training on the newly-delivered EBRC Jaguars is provided by the 1st Régiment de Chasseurs d’Afrique (1 RCA) in Canjuers, a role already implemented since 2019 for the EBMR Griffon. The first operational unit to receive the Jaguar is the 1st Régiment Etranger de Cavalerie (1 REC), a Foreign Legion cavalry unit. In 2023, a first brigade will be equipped with EBRC Jaguars and EBMR Griffons ready for deployments abroad (external operations).
The 1 RCA receives the new vehicles and checks their good working. It then provides training to the regimental trainers and crew members. The regiment then transfers the vehicles to the beneficiary units. From 2019, the 1 RCA’s instructors were trained by the Temporary Grouping of Companies (GME, Groupement Momentané d’Entreprises) Arquus Thales Nexter. For the Jaguar, the 1 RCA trainers were trained by Nexter at Roanne.
The Jaguar EBRC (Engin Blindé de Reconnaissance et de Combat - Reconnaissance and Combat Armoured Vehicle) is a development of a 6x6 Reconnaissance and Combat Armoured Vehicle for the French Army under the Scorpion programme. The Jaguar is replacing the AMX-10RC (and AMX-10RCR), the ERC-90 Sagaie and the VAB HOT (anti-tank) in service with the French Army. The program includes the delivery of 248 Jaguars to the French Army. A total of 110 vehicles are expected to be delivered until 2025.
In June 2017, the Belgian Council of Ministers gave its green light to a proposal of Defense Minister Steven Vandeput for launching the acquisition of French-made armored vehicles. Under a US$ 1.2bn program, Belgium plans to purchase 60 Jaguars and 417 Griffons in the framework of the French-Belgian CaMo (Capacité Motorisée) programme. On October 26, 2018, the Belgian Council of Ministers approved the proposal of the Belgian Minister of Defense to award the supply contract of Jaguars and Griffons to France.
In January 2022, the French army took delivery of the first batch of 20 EBRC Jaguars that were delivered to the 1er Régiment de Chasseurs d’Afrique. On May 10, 2022, France ordered a new batch of 88 Jaguars.
VBLs and EBMR Griffons waiting in front of EBRC Jaguars of the 1st Régiment de Chasseurs d'Afrique at the National Day military parade 2022 rehearsal on the former Air Force Base of Brétigny (Picture source: Army Recognition)
Vehicle commander of an EBRC Jaguar of the 1st Régiment de Chasseurs d'Afrique at the National Day military parade 2022 rehearsal on the former Air Force Base of Brétigny (Picture source: Army Recognition)
An EBRC Jaguar of the 1st Régiment de Chasseurs d'Afrique waiting at Arc de Triomphe before the National Day military parade 2022 (Picture source: Twitter account of 1 RCA)
