Sponsors of the Army Winter Sports Association (AWSA), our Supacat team headed to the French resort of Serre Chevalier, France to participate in the Exercise Winter Host. This exercise will run alongside the Exercise Lions Challenge, the Army Alpine Ski Championships. This annual event is run from 26th January to 3rd February 2023, and includes hosted Army group skiing to meet the soldiers taking part, some of who only learnt to learn to ski several weeks before, business meetings and some après-ski alongside a variety of competitions.
The Presidents Challenge is run annually and this year Chief of the General Staff (CGS) Gen Sir Patrick Sanders took part too before heading to Estonia. The Teams consist of Senior Military Officers, Industry and members of the Army ski teams.
The slalom run covered around 300m and is held on the former world cup downhill course, the piste Luc Alphand.
Team Supacat consisting of Nick Ames CEO, Phil Applegarth Director of Supacat, and Toby Cox Head of Sales, were just pipped at the post in the Presidents Challenge.
The team marginally missed out on first place, by just a few seconds, but delighted to take second place.
Congratulations from all at Supacat.
Skiing is believing!
Pictured left to right: Toby Cox, Nick Ames, Chief of the General Staff (CGS) Gen Sir Patrick Sanders and Phil Applegarth
Supacat, the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of the HMT platform and NP Aerospace, the engineering authority for the UK Ministry of Defence protected mobility fleet, are progressing the development of new Lightweight Recovery Vehicles (LWRV) for the British Army; a conversion of the globally recognised High Mobility Transporter.
A total of four Supacat LWRV vehicles are due to be released to the British Army later in the Spring 2023 – fulfilling a requirement for offroad capability in environments such as those seen in Mali, Africa, during Operation Newcombe. The vehicle development is part of the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) Protected Mobility Engineering & Technical Support (PMETS) contract led by NP Aerospace and contracted vehicle OEMs and partners.
LWRV (Light Weight Recovery Vehicle) fills a capability gap for a recovery vehicle with the off-road performance to follow the routes of the British Army’s HMT `Jackal` and `Coyote` vehicles, developed by Supacat. The solution utilises four in service Jackal 2 with the addition of Supacat’s innovative ‘Extenda’ removable 3rd axle to provide the recovery module and configure the 4×4 Jackal 2 as the 6×6 `Coyote`.
The LWRV solution also introduces Supacat’s patented ‘Supalift’ recovery system technology that will allow the recovery of the Foxhound and HMT platforms.
The modular design allows the new recovery vehicles to be returned to either `Jackal 2` or `Coyote` with the respective removal or addition of the recovery module. It also offers the flexibility for further Jackal 2 vehicles, or the whole fleet, to be converted to the 6×6 `Coyote`.
David Petheram, COO, NP Aerospace, said: “As engineering authority for the MOD UK Protected Mobility fleet, we are pleased to be working with vehicle OEMs and partners to deliver enhanced vehicle platforms that deliver significant operational benefits for the British Army. The project has received great feedback and we look forward to delivering the capability over the coming weeks.”
Phil Applegarth, Director and Head of Supacat, said: “We are proud to be able to deliver a solution that not only fills an urgently needed capability gap, but HMT’s modular design demonstrates its flexibility such as integration of `Supalift`’s game changing technology in extending the lifting capability of light vehicle recovery systems for the Army”.
Watch the video:
About Supacat
Supacat is the world’s leading specialist in the design and development of high mobility defence vehicles with over 1000 specialist, battle-proven vehicles delivered into service globally. Part of SC Group, it is an innovative engineering and design company providing global, defence focussed products and services with operations in the UK and Australia. Its agility and speed enable Supacat to provide and fully support high performance solutions in short timescales. The UK Ministry of Defence’s procurement of Jackal and Coyote vehicles demonstrates the regard in which Supacat’s capabilities and products are held.
NP Aerospace is a global armour manufacturer and vehicle integrator with many years of experience leading complex vehicle programmes. The company has supplied products into the British Army since 1979 including personal armour, vehicle armour and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) suits. NP Aerospace has integrated and supported over 2,000 military vehicles and has designed, manufactured and installed the full multi-hit CAMAC platform armour for the Mastiff, Wolfhound, Ridgback and Buffalo vehicles used to protect army staff on UK MoD operations. NP Aerospace UK headquarters are in Coventry.
This website will store cookies on your computer. We use cookies to improve your browsing experience (we never store personal information in a cookie) and to track how the site is being used. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
