Arquus Celebrates Milestone with the 2,000th VT4 Delivery to French Forces

Arquus has successfully supplied the 2000th VT4 to the French defense procurement agency, the DGA. This significant milestone in the initiative validates the strategies adopted by Arquus and the DGA to guarantee the ongoing production for the armed forces, despite the health emergency that impacted the year 2020. Just over two years after the initial vehicles were transferred to the 12th Régiment de Cuirassiers, nearly half of the VT4s anticipated under the plan have been made accessible to the forces. These initial two years of operation have also highlighted the adaptability of the framework established by Arquus to maintain the vehicles, boasting an operational uptime exceeding 95% consistently, honoring all commitments.

The VT4 is now deployed within units across France, including both mainland and French overseas departments and territories, ranging from French Guyana to the Pacific region. With its exceptional performance and adaptability, the VT4 continuously showcases its capabilities in diverse terrains and situations. A total of 4,380 VT4s are projected to equip the armed forces, with 3,980 designated for the French Army. There are still 2,380 vehicles yet to be manufactured at the Arquus facility in Saint-Nazaire.

Recently, the VT4s embarked on their first external mission with a deployment in Lebanon as part of Operation Friendship. Within the Groupement Terrestre Ventoux, VT4s have significantly contributed to missions that support the local population, encompassing the liaison and transportation of personnel and equipment.

At the onset of the crisis and in line with health regulations, specialized Arquus teams remained at the Saint-Nazaire facility to finalize work and deliver the vehicles to the forces. These teams successfully facilitated the completion of two batches comprising 100 vehicles each during the peak of the health crisis, at the end of March 2020, for the DGA’s quality department. Twenty of these vehicles were urgently dispatched to the RMED (Régiment Médical, Medical Regiment) in La Valbonne as part of establishing a field hospital in Alsace. Consequently, deliveries of VT4s were able to progress smoothly throughout 2020.

In December, Arquus accomplished the delivery of the 10th batch of 100 vehicles to the DGA for 2020, culminating in a total of 1,001 VT4s delivered within the year, adhering to commitments. These vehicles were promptly utilized in missions conducted by the Army on national soil during Operation Resilience.

The VT4 is a lightweight, versatile, non-armored 4×4 command and liaison vehicle, engineered to transport five soldiers or four operators equipped with FELIN. It is designated for internal operations (Sentinel, training) or external missions in stabilized conflict areas.

The VT4 production assembly brings together the efforts of 46 personnel at the Saint-Nazaire facility, both on the assembly line and in preparatory roles. With the collaboration of design, support, and logistics teams, the VT4 initiative encompasses a total of 150 jobs for Arquus within the Saint-Nazaire and Versailles employment regions.

This industrial achievement also depends on the 96 Arquus suppliers participating in this initiative, including numerous French enterprises. Arquus executed comprehensive measures from the outset of the crisis, in partnership with its collaborators and the DGA, to ensure supply security and maintain the continuity of logistical flows. The VT4 initiative also encompasses the entire support network of the company, operational throughout France.

A key innovation of the VT4 initiative is its support system, which is fully integrated and pioneering, featuring a commitment to 95% uptime across the complete fleet. This promise has been consistently fulfilled during these initial two years of VT4 operation. To ensure this availability, Arquus boasts a distinctive network of dealerships and service locations across France.

With over 310 points in France alone, this network is strategically positioned close to the forces, with locations within 50km of each regiment, including overseas units. It offers technical assistance to the armies’ VT4 fleets, with guaranteed support available 24/7. This localized network and exceptional proximity facilitate optimal responsiveness in serving the forces.

In support of VT4 operations, Arquus can swiftly deploy teams to respond in the shortest possible timeframe, directly on user sites. This system has already proven its effectiveness in supporting the French Army by executing several thousand technical actions and numerous configuration adjustments, ensuring the safety of the forces, the availability of equipment, and the optimization of vehicle potential.

The network of service points supporting the VT4 has access to Arquus’ online spare parts portal, ELEMENTS. Launched in 2019, this webshop integrates the full catalog of VT4 products. VT4 spare parts and components have been centralized at the Garchizy logistics platform since the beginning of 2019. The inventory includes 2,400 references that can be promptly delivered to the entire network of dealerships in France and to support vehicles deployed abroad.

As part of the VT4 initiative, Arquus also provides training to the armed forces. These training programs are tailored to assist soldiers in discovering and operating the vehicle effectively, as well as mastering off-road driving capabilities with the VT4. Training is offered through e-learning, featuring a vehicle discovery module and 14 modules aimed at enhancing vehicle support expertise.

Arquus additionally provides VT4 maintenance training sessions for dealers to ensure the efficiency of the comprehensive support network. These sessions are arranged at the Saint-Nazaire facility or directly at the dealership.