Supacat is continuing development of its all-new, all British Supacat SPV400 light protected patrol vehicle to meet international demand for this new class of vehicle in military and non-military markets. The SPV400 is one of only two vehicles from an original field of 30 vehicle designs, which succeeded in being taken forward to the invitation to tender stage to meet the UK Ministry of Defence’s demanding requirements for its new Light Protected Patrol Vehicle (LPPV), despite not being selected as preferred bidder.

“We are very disappointed by the decision. The SPV400 is a world class vehicle. Its development in such a short period of time is a huge achievement for the team”, said Nick Ames, Managing Director, Supacat.

“In addition to the interest from other armed forces, we perceive that NGOs and other civilian organisations operating in dangerous areas would benefit from the high levels of armour protection and off road mobility offered by the SPV400. Therefore we will be continuing to pursue international commercial opportunities for this world-leading vehicle technology”,

Supacat is an innovative design house and world leader in high mobility vehicles serving customers in the military and civil sectors. It designed the acclaimed Jackal and Coyote vehicles currently in service with British Forces in Afghanistan and other armed forces and a civil variant has been chosen as the support vehicle by Bloodhound SCC in its bid for the World Land Speed Record. Supacat is also developing a unique lifeboat launch and recovery vehicle for RNLI and providing specialist protected transit vehicles for the Oil and Gas sector.

Supacat are proceeding at full speed with their in-house development and reliability trialling programme for the all-new all-British SPV400. The newly constructed 60% slope and articulation gauges at Supacat’s Devon test facility are being used to put the SPV400 through arduous trials that exceed those conducted by the MoD at Millbrook earlier in the year. The SPV400 seen in this video is vehicle number 7 (click here to read more about vehicle 7) that has been demonstrating significantly enhanced performance and reliability over that achieved by the two prototypes purchased by the MoD for trials earlier in the year. Supacat’s Sales and Marketing Manager Jamie Clarke said “we fully understand the operational imperative surrounding the LPPV programme and that we must continue our own trials and development at full speed concurrently to the MoD’s programme. We’re really pleased with the progress of vehicle 7 and having driven the 60% slope myself recently, I can assure you that the vehicle’s performance under these conditions is breathtaking. We’re testing alongside a Jackal and the SPV400 is able to match it across all aspects of our test track so anyone who has driven a Jackal will be aware of the performance on offer with the SPV400”.

 

Supacat is playing a crucial role in The BLOODHOUND SSC’s bid to break the World Land Speed Record, in which the current record holder, Andy Green, will attempt a 1000mph record in South Africa in 2012. To support them during the high speed testing and record breaking runs the British team turned to Supacat for an all terrain, high mobility support vehicle capable of operating in the harsh desert conditions of the Hakskeen Pan.

The vehicle has to be capable of carrying 1,500 ltrs of water, firefighting equipment, a crane, a spare 450kg rocket and four crew members in air-conditioned comfort. The solution is Supacat’s 6×6 wheel drive HMT600, two of which have been loaned by Supacat for the Project. The HMT 600, dubbed `Coyote`, is serving as the British Army’s Tactical Support Vehicle (Light) in Afghanistan.

“Supacat’s role in the Bloodhound project highlights how British innovation and engineering can the lead the world. We’re very proud to be part of this project”, said Nick Ames, Managing Director of Supacat.

The 10 tonne, 183 bhp truck reaches speeds of 80 mph fully loaded and will serve as a secondary response vehicle in the event of an accident or emergency. The 1,500 lts of water and firefighting equipment will be used to dilute the highly corrosive High Test Peroxide (HTP) being used as rocket oxidizer should there be a leak or a spillage.

The Supacat HMT 600 will also aid the team during the tricky one hour turnaround phase. The crane will be used to load and unload the 450kg 5 metre long hybrid rocket, moving equipment and lifting the BLOODHOUND SSC on and off the dolly which will tow it to and from the base camp.

Click here to see the article on thesun.co.uk