The Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) has placed an order, in two tranches, for sixteen VARDA systems1 Equipped with Saab’s Giraffe 1X radar, mounted on a Scania V3P tactical chassis2. A contract which marks the replacement of thirty-year-old radar vehicles and which is part of a broader dynamic. At the end of 2025, the DGA had already signed a contract with the Swedish manufacturer for two GlobalEye airborne surveillance aircraft, intended to succeed the Boeing E-3F AWACS of the Air and Space Force. From the ground to high altitude, Franco-Swedish defense cooperation is taking on a new consistency. Behind this convergence, the same observation emerges: in the absence of national solutions available in the short term, Paris is turning to Stockholm.
And the NC1 30 and NC1 40, which entered service in 1995, precisely embody this capacity void. The latter no longer meet current operational requirements, particularly in the face of the drone threat which has emerged as the major tactical challenge of this decade. The Giraffe 1X is a compact 3D radar with active antenna, designed for short-range ground-to-air defense. Weighing less than 150 kilograms in total, it can be integrated into any mobile platform, transported by helicopter or permanently installed on a mast or building.
In terms of performance, it covers the entire surveillance volume every second and detects both micro-drones and combat aircraft several kilometers away, including so-called LSS targets (slow, low and small). Its C-RAM mode allows munitions to be tracked from their launch point to their impact, a valuable function against artillery and rockets. Entirely software, the system accepts continuous updates as the threat evolves: a strong argument in a rapidly changing capability environment.
A Franco-Swedish consortium, an Angevin manufacturing
To carry out this program, Saab and Scania France have chosen to join forces in a joint consortium. In Angers, in the workshops of the SPAD division3 from Scania, the teams will produce the V3P chassis and install the radar, French manufacturing for Swedish equipment, a nuance which visibly weighed in the balance. In total, seventeen Giraffe 1X radars are part of the order: sixteen will join the vehicles delivered to the forces, while the last will go for testing and evaluation. Spare parts, crew training and technical support complete the contract. The first deliveries are expected this year, with the following in the first half of 2027.
There remains the question of the context in which this order was placed. The DGA has mobilized the reactive acquisition force (FAR), this system created in 2023 precisely to overcome the usually incompressible deadlines for major arms programs. Its activation is not trivial: it implicitly says that no French solution was available in the short term in this segment. The sixteen VARDA vehicles are therefore intended to play a transitional role, while the ground-to-air defense and anti-drone (LAD) versions of the Serval vehicle mature. The Giraffe 1X will also find its definitive place on the Serval, thus ensuring a certain capacity continuity between the two generations.
Basically, this acquisition illustrates a discreet but real change in posture within the DGA. For a long time, buying abroad was almost an admission of weakness. Today, getting proven equipment off the shelf from a European partner, when the need is urgent and no national alternative exists in the short term, is a rational decision.
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- Véhicule porteur polyvalent PAMELA ↩︎
- Scania Public and Defense ↩︎
Photo © Saab
