France's Texelis and CNIM have teamed to meet a future French Army requirement for a new combat engineer vehicle called Moyen d'Appui au Contact (MAC).
Texelis has experience developing and manufacturing complete drive lines as well as chassis, and is supplying the complete mobility package for the French Army's new Serval 4Ă—4 armoured personnel carrier (APC) that is undergoing trials ahead of production at the Nexter Roanne facility.
An artist's impression of a Texelis/CNIM MAC 8Ă—8 in travelling configuration. (Texelis/CNIM)
CNIM (Constructions Industrielles de la Meditérranée) has experience supplying the French Army and export customers with engineer equipment, with the most recent order being for supplying 10 Poseur de Travures de l'Avant modular assault bridges that are transported and launched by a 10×10 vehicle.
According to Jean Vandel, managing director for defence at Texelis, “there will be a third member of the consortium, which will be announced in the not too distant future”.
Industry sources expect the French Direction générale de l'armement (DGA) to issue a request for information in early 2022 for the MAC, which will replace the tracked Engin Blindé du Génie (EBG) combat engineer tractor. The exact number of MAC required has not been finalised but could range from 75 to over 100 units, according to industry sources.
The deployed EBG is based on components of the AMX-30 main battle tank, which was phased out of French Army service years ago. A total of 71 EBGs were built at the now Nexter Roanne facility and 54 of these were upgraded to extend their operational lives, with final deliveries in early 2014 under the designation EBG Valorise (EBG Val).
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