The vehicle entered service in 2019 and is, alongside the four-wheel VBMR-L Serval co-developed by KNDS France and Texelis, the successor of the Véhicule de l'Avant Blindé (VAB).

Components of the French SCORPION programme, the two vehicles are expected to fulfill a wide range of tasks and thus consist of several variants and subvariants.

[4] In 2014, the French Ministry of Defense finally entrusted their design to a consortium formed by Nexter, Arquus and Thales, who had announced their intention to collaborate as early as 2010 and had initiated preliminary work for a joint technical solution.

[10] In the 2019-2025 LPM adopted in July 2018, the SCORPION programme's targets were revised upwards with the planned acquisition of a total of 1,872 VBMR Griffon, 978 VMBR-L Serval, 300 EBRC Jaguar as well as the upgrade of 200 Leclerc tanks and 18 DCL armoured recovery vehicles to the XLR standard; all to be delivered by 2030.

Furthermore, the consortium opted for the Griffon to share 70% of its components with the Jaguar to save on development, production and maintenance costs as well as to facilitate logistics.

The embarked combat group of a standard Griffon (the VTT Félin) comprises 10 fully-equipped soldiers; a driver, a dedicated gunner as well as 8 infantrymen, including the commander.

[19] The Griffon features a militarized variant of a commercial Renault-Volvo diesel powertrain rated at 400 hp, an automatic gearbox and independent running gears, enabling the vehicle to reach a top speed of 90 km/h and a range of up to 800 km.

[20][21] The Griffon also incorporates air conditioning and heating for comfort, as well as an overpressure protection system in order to keep the crew and passengers safe from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats.

[28] The Direction Générale de l'Armement (DGA), the French defense procurement agency, announced the Griffon's qualification on June 24, 2019, enabling the first vehicles to be delivered on July 4, 2019.

The SICS interconnects all the players in a combined arms battle group, while the CONTACT provides communication capabilities between the vehicles, with simultaneous and real time voice and data transmission.

[22] It will integrate both the ECLIPSE smart software defined jammer from Thales, which provides electronic protection against IED/RCIED threats as well as the company's ANTARES optronics system.

It can locate laser threats to within 1.5 degrees as well as detect the launch of an incoming missile, allowing the crew to react as it sees fit.

[33][34] Additionally, the vehicle features the PILAR V, a roof-mounted device capable of detecting, identifying and locating shots from small arms, medium-calibre weapons, mortar shells, shaped charge rockets or RPGs in real time.

This threat discrimination and precise target designation capability improves situational awareness, immediate reaction and the effectiveness of retaliatory fire.

[37][38] The latter, designated Diamant, is a distributed hard-kill active protection system being developed by Thales comprising four frequency-modulated continuous-wave radar sensors mounted on the corners of the vehicle, a number of effector modules mounted around the perimeter of the vehicle, on its roof and around its hood, and a power supply system for the control unit computer.

The vehicles are fitted with sensors on key components, such as suspension, brake pads and gearboxes, enabling predictive maintenance.

[3][40] The principle is to deploy Health and Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS) on these key functions to generate continuous data on vehicle activity.

[40] The adoption of predictive maintenance, agreed in a rider to the SCORPION contract, meant developing the software layer needed to coordinate sensors and analyze data.

This diagnostic tool takes the form of a computer which can be plugged into the vehicle to perform maintenance operations or identify faults.

[40] The VBMR Griffon, in its standard VTT Félin configuration, is equipped with a gyro-stabilized T1 Hornet remote controlled weapon station provided by Arquus.

Furthermore, the system is designed not only for self-defense (passive action), but is also capable of neutralizing hostile personnel (as it can fire a variety of lethal and non-lethal charges).

[41] The day and night sighting and fire-control system it integrates (the MINEO from Safran, mounted to the right side of the main armament) grants the vehicle commander and gunner a wider field of vision for target detection, recognition and identification.

Each remotely-operated turret is integrated into the vehicle's vetronics, which in turn is linked to the other elements of a French company team or GTIA via the SICS combat information system.

[48] Differences include the protrusion created by the addition of the mast and the roof-mounted T2 Hornet Lite remote controlled weapon station incorporating a 7.62 mm machine gun and the GALIX, instead of the standard T1 model.

Carrying 7 soldiers (1 pilot and 1 gunner at the front and 5 at the rear manning the command post), it has been designed to accommodate communications equipment, large screens, a blackboard, a printer and everything else needed for collaborative combat (vetronics, CONTACT software-defined radio, SCORPION combat information system, ANTARES optronics system, fire start detector, etc.).

It features Safran's new generation PASEO Crystal high-resolution sensors suite installed on top of a telescopic mast, which integrates an inertial navigation system (derived from the company's Sigma 20 family) based on hemispherical resonator gyroscope (HRG) technology.

[52][53] This variant of the Griffon will be able to spot, identify and monitor virtually anything that moves, rolls or flies within a 24 km radius and at an altitude of 500 m (from vehicles to the movements of an individual burying an IED or mine for example, and from shell bursts to helicopters up to 500 m above sea level).

An evolution of the Thales 2R2M 120 mm semi-automatic mortar system, it can fire up to ten rounds per minute against targets up to 13 km away with improved accuracy; the vehicle can then set itself in motion while closing the roof hatches at the same time.

[57] As it can be put into road position as quickly as into battery, it is designed to avoid counter-battery fire more easily, while providing better protection for the crew.

[57][45] 54 units are to be delivered to the French Army from the fourth quarter of 2023 to 2027, with a prototype scheduled for delivery as soon as 2020, and qualification testing expected to take place between 2022 and 2023.