French Army Displays Upgraded Leclerc Tank with New Roof Armor at Defense Show
The French Army unveiled an upgraded Leclerc XLR fitted with metal cage armor at the Eurosatory defense show near Paris on Sunday. The addition is part of the Scorpion modernization program and comes as France plans an interim armored capability before the Main Ground Combat System arrives around 2045.
Defense NewsThe French Army displayed an upgraded Leclerc XLR main battle tank fitted with roof-mounted cage armor at the Eurosatory defense show near Paris on Sunday. The metal cage, built as a prototype by the French Army technical section known as STAT, is now being manufactured by KNDS France and is in the process of being delivered to tank units, Gen.
Olivier Coquet, head of STAT, said during a briefing with reporters.
Roof-mounted armor variants have been adopted by both Russian and Ukrainian forces as drone threats proliferate. The Leclerc upgrade forms part of France’s Scorpion armored-vehicle modernization program, which equips the country’s heaviest armored unit with new computers, additional armor, and a remotely operated turret for urban operations, according to Coquet.
The Leclerc main battle tank has a 120 mm cannon, an autoloader, and a crew of three.
France’s Leclerc will reach the end of its service life by 2035, Gen. Coquet said, prompting the Army to seek an interim capability to bridge the gap until the Main Ground Combat System arrives around 2045.
Gen. Philippe de Montenon, commander of the French land forces and operations, said in the same briefing that the planned MGCS will be a networked system of systems with artificial intelligence, drones operating alongside it, and a robotic element, rather than an exact copy of the Leclerc. The interim capability will serve as a first building block of the MGCS, Coquet said.
“We already have some ideas, we know full well that it won’t be an exact copy of the Leclerc tank. de Montenon said.
