France. 29 June 2019. As part of a strategic partnership between Belgium and France, the government-to-government agreement on the CaMo (Capacité Motorisée) project has now come into effect and the contract for the procurement of armoured vehicles for the Belgian forces has been awarded.

The cooperation agreement between the French and Belgian governments in the area of land mobility came into effect on 21 June 2019.

This milestone sets the official seal of approval on the strategic cooperation agreement behind yesterday’s award by the French defence procurement agency (DGA) of the CaMo contract to French industry. Under the contract, the Belgian Army will take delivery, between 2025 and 2030, of 382 Griffon multi-role armoured vehicles and 60 Jaguar data-driven reconnaissance and combat vehicles. These vehicles will be equipped to the specifications of France’s Scorpion programme and will be fully compatible with the equivalent French vehicles.

The Belgian and French land forces will conduct an initial joint training exercise in Belgium in September 2019 to test command procedures.

CaMo is a strategic partnership between the land components of the French and Belgian armed forces and provides a tangible example of steps being taken to build an operational European defence community. The partnership could be expanded under permanent structured cooperation arrangements.