On 2 July 2024 Belgian engineering group John Cockerill Defense (JCD) announced it had completed the takeover of French military vehicle manufacturer Arquus. The takeover negotiations were announced at the beginning of the year.
The Belgian and French governments had previously decided to support this merger and each took a 10% stake in the capital of JCD.
The two companies want to continue to offer their vehicles and weapon systems independently of each other, but also present combined offers of vehicles with light armoured turrets in order to better serve ground forces worldwide. One example of this was on display in June at the Eurosatory 2024 defence exhibition in Paris: the new Arquus MAV’Rx multi-purpose vehicle equipped with a JCD 25 mm Cockerill Protected Weapon System (CPWS) turret.
JCD is aiming for an annual turnover of EUR 1 billion and a workforce of 2,000 specialists by 2026. The company has a global presence and important operational bases in Belgium, France, Italy, India and Saudi Arabia.
Arquus, meanwhile, is a key player in the French armed forces’ Scorpion programme. Together with Nexter and Thales, Arquus is involved in the Griffon, Jaguar and Serval combat vehicle programmes.
The Belgian armed forces have ordered 382 Griffons and 60 Jaguars for their CAMO (Capacité Motorisée) programme, which came into force in 2019 and is to be delivered from 2025.
