Forget what your Fox News-addicted uncle told you about cheese-eating surrender monkeys. The French military has centuries of storied military victories and traditions behind it, and Renault wants in on that action with a new, autonomous electric vehicle platform designed to tackle the Armée de Terre’s most demanding missions.
Co-developed by the EV experts at Renault Group and the defense experts at Belgian electronics firm John Cockerill, the new Forefront concept previews a new, modular ground vehicle that can be rapidly industrialized at a controlled cost, with unique mobility and off-road performance, and capable of autonomously navigating complex terrain. The result is a machine that could front-line logistical capabilities for both defense and civilian applications, enabling missions to be carried out remotely in very high-risk and hard‑to‑reach environments.
“Forefront Concept … demonstrates the contribution that Renault Group’s industrial and technological expertise can make to a strategic sector such as unmanned ground vehicles with multiple applications expected across both civilian and military sectors in the years to come,” explains François Provost, CEO, Renault Group. “This innovative project brings together two complementary areas of expertise: Renault Group’s in the rapid, large-scale and cost-effective development and production of high-performance, reliable technological products and John Cockerill’s in the defense industry.”
Money is money
Renault is quick to point out that its new concept isn’t just suitable for military work. Although it’s worth pointing out that the Renault-provided image, above, isn’t just AI slop: it would be impractical if it was real, with no real obvious way to get those RCP pipes on or off the thing. That said, presenting their military killbot as a construction mule is at least more credible than the “ambulance” and “troop transport” use cases we’ve seen touted by similar concepts on the American side.
Forefront seems to be little more than a rendering at this stage, with the first of the Forefront concept prototypes set to take part in a number of exercises and trials in the months ahead to further refine the concept.
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