12/12/2014
It is usually wise to judge politicians by what they do, rather than by what they say. But, in terms of assessing intentions on defence integration, the thing to watch is the equipment they buy. The greater the match in equipment, systems and doctrine with the armed forces of other nations, the more likely it is they can work together, if there is the political will to do so.
The corollary of this that, even if there is a declared intent to work together, as we are seeing with the member states of the EU, if the equipment and systems are very different, so far as to reflect different operating standards and doctrines, then it is unlikely that there can be any serious degree of defence integration.
With that in mind, it takes to great deductive powers to assess the latest French
army re-equipment plans. This is the so-called "Scorpion" modernisation programme, announced on 5 December and valued initially at â¬752 million for the purchase of a new generation of armoured wheeled combat vehicles.
This contract covers the development and acquisition (as well as maintenance and training tools) of the two main vehicles of the programme: the 6x6
Véhicule Blindé MultiRole (VBMR), known as Griffon (pictured on the left) and the 6x6
Engin Blindé de Reconnaissance et de Combat (EBRC). This will be called the Jaguar.
The nearest British equivalent to the Scorpion programme is the now-stalled
Future Rapid Effects System (FRES), to be based on a series of eight-wheeler Pirana V armoured vehicles, and a
tracked reconnaissance vehicle, under the designation "Scout SV".
So different are the equipment sets that there will be huge differences in capabilities â without even taking in account the electronic systems. But the French have also gone ahead on their own here, with their
Bulle Opérationnelle Aéroterrestre (BOA) network-centric systems, which are unlikely to interface with British equipment when it finally emerges.
By coincidence, the British Army is trialling the
Mastiff in the mechanised infantry role, presumably for European theatres, giving it a vehicle that looks not dissimilar to the French Griffon.
From inspection of the graphics, though, the Griffon design does not seem to have made any concession to mine/IED protection. Nexter, the lead contractor for the armour technology, always hint that they have special anti-mine technology, but sniffing around their vehicles doesn't suggest that there is anything to write home about.
The Mastiff, on the other hand, with its
proven anti-IED technology is altogether a very different animal, despite outward similarities. Its weakness is going to be off-road performance, in the muddy conditions experienced in Europe.
Unless the Army is prepared to retrofit
enhanced mobility, the vehicle is possibly being set up to fail, and one wonders whether that is the intention of the Brass, which were never very keen on the Mastiff anyway.
That aside, such is the degree of divergence between UK and French forces that it is hard now to see whether defence integration can be anything other than a pipe dream. Certainly, whatever the rhetoric coming out of Brussels, the French are doing nothing practical to make land force integration happen. And, without France, European integration isn't going to happen.
