At the International Defence & Security Exhibition of Paris, Eurosatory 2012, the French Company Panhard Defense unveils a new concept of armoured vehicle, named CRAB (Combat Reconnaissance Armoured Buggy). Several ideas have governed the CRAB’s design. The first one consisted in putting forward a land weapon system onto the world market likely to favorably replace the thousands of light armoured combat vehicles procured in the 60s/90s from Panhard, Alvis or late Engesa. It mainly deals with the AML, ERC, Cascavel, Scorpion, V150, and even some very light tanks. The second one results from a doctrinal thinking that starts from a very worrying acknowledgement. With a budget devoted to nuclear deterrence that remains constant, and an overall defence budget that is inexorably decreasing, the share devoted to conventional capabilities is shrinking away. Yet, we replace the former generation of equipment with a more performing one, hence a much more expensive one. Therefore, it is a double penalty that mathematically leads to reduced sizes and a reduced procurement rate. Our perspective consists of a lot of samples that no longer act as an earth. However, area control, OBUAs (Operations in Built-Up Areas) and rapid movement to hot spots cannot be achieved with main combat vehicles in small numbers. These latter ones should be kept to carry out the major and critical manoeuvre that would have been prepared by lighter and more numerous vehicles. In the French Army, the CRAB may perform this crucial task. In April 2012, Panhard has presented to the French Army chief of staff and senior procurement officials the concept for a high-mobility armored vehicle with aggressive firepower, dubbed the Combat and Reconnaissance Armored Buggy (CRAB). The CRAB can be air transportable with three vehicles aboard a military transport aircraft A400M or 2 aboard C130J.
![KqzVP.jpg%3Cspan%20style=font-family:%20"%3E](http://i.imgur.com/KqzVP.jpg%3Cspan%20style=font-family:%20"%3E)
