French PLFS. (Photo : DGS)
The French Army will immediately deploy its new Poids Lourds Force Spéciale (PLFS, or Heavy Special Forces Vehicle), to the Sahel Region in sub-Saharan Africa where it has been engaged in a little known but bitter war since 2014.
The first 25 of these new four-wheeled, all-terrain fighting vehicles will go to the Commandement des Opérations Spéciales (COS) or the Special Forces Command that combines special forces units from the French Army (Armée de terre); the French Navy (Marine nationale) and the French Air Force (Armée de l'air).
Deliveries of the second batch of 172 vehicles should begin in January 2019 with all the vehicles being delivered by December 2021.
The vehicles for COS are the first of 202 ordered from Renault Trucks Defense in January 2016. The government also ordered 242 Véhicule Léger des Forces Spéciales (VLFS) or Special Force Light Vehicle for COS.
COS is at the forefront of France's little known war being fought against Islamist rebels in the Sahel Region in Africa.
Operation Barkhane is an ongoing anti-insurgent operation in the Sahel involving 3,000 French soldiers, fighting out of N'Djamena, capital of Chad. The operation is being supported by five countries and former French colonies that span the Sahel: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.
The Sahel region in Africa is a belt up to 1,000 km wide that spans the 5,400 km from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea.
The standard version of the PLFS will be fitted with two radios; one 12.7 x 99 mm (.50 caliber) machine gun and two 7.62 x 51 mm MGs. The Standard 2 version is expected to feature improved endurance and much improved payload. It will carry up to seven radios and the capacity to fire heavier weapons.
Most of the French troops for Operation Barkhane come from the French Légion étrangère (the French Foreign Legion) and the Troupes de marine, the successor to the French Colonial Infantry.
