France’s Legion Tests a Tank-Based UGV Prototype Built on a Rare AMX-32

France’s Foreign Legion may use a converted tank to move supplies, but the REFURBOT vehicle shown at the National Infantry Days remains a prototype. The 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment, based in Nîmes, was identified as the intended user in a video posted by Forces Operations Blog (FOB).

REFURBOT is a project by French companies S2M Equipment and KNDS France. Its TOXO package adds radar, lidar, GNSS, cameras and drive-by-wire controls. Listed modes include leader-follower driving, route following, return-to-route and waypoint patrol. The companies have not published a payload figure, price or order.

The demonstrator’s origins are unclear. Most coverage describes it as a converted AMX-30, but KNDS’s release says it is based on an AMX-32, and Army Recognition reported that it uses a rebuilt AMX-32 prototype hull. Only two AMX-32 prototypes were built. France built 3,571 AMX-30 family vehicles from 1966 to 1994, and its army has reportedly dismantled about 50 AMX-30s a year since 2015.

A tank hull could offer more capacity and resilience than small logistics robots, but the project has yet to publish performance figures or show a conversion using a vehicle from an actual stockpile. KNDS plans French Army tactical evaluations and participation in the CoHoMa human-machine teaming challenge, according to Zone Militaire. Until trials provide more data, REFURBOT remains a prototype with no announced contract.