Running since 1975, the Army Film and Photographic Competition showcases the very best photographic and cinematography by a wide variety of talented individuals.

This is the first year outside suppliers and contractors were invited to attend the award ceremony, held at the National Army Museum. Supacat part of SC Group-Global were one of the privileged few to be amongst the invitees.

Nicky Yeoman, Head of Marketing and Sales Operation at SC Group-Global and Georgie Burridge Spares Manager represented Supacat. Nicky said: “It was an honour to be invited to represent Supacat at such a prestigious ceremony. It is evident that we have many talented photographic professionals in the Army, who are bringing the complex reality of Army life to LIFE.

Both Georgie and I felt we were spending the evening amongst many future rising stars. These professionals will become the story tellers of the future but instead of using words, they will be using a camera lens. Looking forward to following their journeys”

The beauty of these awards ensures that talented men and women within the armed forces are not just being recognised for their creative eye, but recognised as historians. These professionals are skillfully capturing moments which would otherwise go unrecognised; as they capture day-to-day operations, it means these moments can be shared with future generations – so, ‘never forgotten!’

Supacat are delighted that Corporal Ben Beale Royal Logistic Corps was not just nominated but went on to WIN the Professional Category Story. The ‘Who’s in There?’ story documents the troops on exercise in Norway. The camera showcases their tenacity and ingenuity by hiding not just themselves, but three Supacat HMT Jackals in a barn, hidden completely out of sight from the enemy.

Ben Beale explained: “While we were in Norway, we went to find the Light Dragoons Light Cavalry.  The LD’s were in their light reconnaissance role and using a civilian barn as a hide out.  This barn was hiding three vehicles and an observatory.

As I was leaving the barn, I had to take the photographs, as I love to mix military gear and window light, so atmospheric.  Big thanks to the judges, as I wasn’t expecting it at all.”

Nicky Yeoman added: “From all the team at Supacat, we would like to congratulate Corporal Ben Beale on achieving the Professional Category Story award. We are delighted that three Supacat HMT Jackals formed part of the story! Behind the camera, Ben demonstrates how the Jackal can be concealed from operation while bringing the reconnaissance exercise to life.

We are also delighted that the panel recognised Ben’s ingenuity by telling a captivating story simple, through the eye of a camera lens, which means his work will be available for future generations to see.”

To find out who the winners and nominees were from the 16 photographic categories visit the army photographic 2019 winners page.

   

Nick Ames CEO SC Group is delighted to announce the appointment of Phil Applegarth as a Director of Supacat Limited.

“Phil has been with the business since 2009, after completing over 23-years in the Army. Phil has filled a number of roles in his time at Supacat, all of them within the defence vehicles business stream. He has a strong network of colleagues within the Ministry of Defence and in overseas Defence Ministries as well a good relationship with the Tier 1 industry partners within defence.”

Phil is delighted with his new appointment, and shares part of his history with us:

“I joined Supacat in July 2009 as the Support Operations Manager and on promotion to Head of Customer support in 2011, I made some sweeping changes to maximise long-term business opportunities and create a solid foundation to grow the organisation.  For the last five-years, I have been responsible for looking after the global Supacat defence business stream within SC Group with the exception of Asia-Pacific.

My team of project managers and I are responsible for delivering all aspects of new programmes and in-service support across the globe in which we operate. This includes Spares, Repairs, Field Service Support, Training, Upgrades and Improvements and Post Design Services to meet the customer’s needs.  I will continue to focus on extending the global SF family and developing new capabilities on existing platforms and delivering exciting new programmes.

Prior to joining Supacat, I completed over 23-years in the Army as a proud Para Commando Loggie.  Advice was seldom listened to and even after being warned never to volunteer; I always had my hand in the air for anything mad, bad or dangerous!  My considerable experience of vehicle based mobility operations enables me to intimately understand and credibly advise the needs of our customers.  In my remaining spare time, I am a Reserve RIFLES Officer offering years of mobility and operational experience into specialist mission units within Joint Force Command (JFC).

I am married to Jo who also works at SC Group as the Export Compliance Officer, who patiently stays at home.  Jo while at home looks after her horses, chickens, dogs and my sheep and Highland cows, while uncomplainingly waiting for my return!

The team at SC Group Ltd would like to wish Phil every success in his new role.

If you didn’t get chance to read the Supacat article in the October copy of Nation Shield, then you can catch up today.  The following article explains that we are offering a step change in capability and payload capacity on our HMT Extenda MK2 plus so much more.

Read the article here

Supacat unveils `optionally manned hybrid` Demonstrator at DSEi

At DSEi 2019 the world leading Special Forces vehicle developer, Supacat, is unveiling its Technology Demonstrator for hybrid and optionally manned operations, developed to keep pace with battlefield logistical requirements on extreme terrain and unpredictable routes.

The Technology Demonstrator has been developed by UK headquartered Supacat in collaboration with the University of Exeter as part of an Innovate UK-supported Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP).

“Electric Hybrid propulsion and autonomous technologies are two important innovations that will enhance the capabilities of users of our in service high mobility platforms.  We have focussed our efforts on designing open system architectures, allowing extensive use of commercial off the shelf (COTS) components, which we see as key to a successful and sustainable military solution in a rapidly evolving technology sector”, explains Steve Austen, Engineering Director of Supacat parent, SC Group.

“It is in Supacat’s DNA to tailor its platforms and solutions to each customer’s requirements. Our approach uses a common electric drivetrain, each of which can be customised through different powering options depending on mission, range, payload and operating environment.  For example, a customer may have a mission profile with a mixture of on road and off road operations, with a need for silent operation for a percentage of time – the proportion of these components will determine whether series or parallel hybrid options are employed or if full electric propulsion is needed. As battery or fuel cell technology advances and diesel engine development responds to legislation, these options will inevitably change and we must provide vehicle architectures that can accommodate such evolution”, Austen comments.

“We are exploring, developing and incorporating autonomous technologies in a way that will permit the level of collaboration and control from human to vehicle or from vehicle to vehicle to be altered depending on the complexity of the work being undertaken. Allowing vehicles to be `optionally manned` will remove users from the `dull, dirty or dangerous` tasks wherever possible and create a real operational advantage for the end user”, says Austen.

The ‘optionally manned’ demonstrator utilises:

• a terrain detection and response system for enhanced mobility and optimised endurance,
• an object categorisation and response system for obstacle clearance or avoidance during technical off road driving, which can be tailored to the capabilities of the vehicle, driver or a remote operator, and
• a path planning and motion behaviour system using simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM) for the navigation of lead and follow on vehicles.

 “Few autonomous vehicle projects focus on highly technical off road terrain.  The challenge here is to manage and reduce the volume of data needed about the unpredictable non-linear environment around the vehicle to assure effective, safe and predictable performance without having to import and export masses of data from it”, notes Austen.

The Technology Demonstrator uses the Supacat workhorse, the All Terrain Mobility Platform (ATMP), as its base vehicle as ATMP is a mature, battle proven and relatively simple product, enabling the development programme to focus on the new technologies and capabilities and subsequently allowing rapid development. It retains the renowned mobility and class leading payload of the original vehicle (up to 1600g).

Supacat is welcoming potential users and customers to demonstrations at its Devon facility over the next six months and is actively seeking new mission challenges that enable them to benchmark the performance of the vehicle and level of autonomy achieved during continued development in conducting realistic tasks.  Use of Machine Learning, supported by Neural Networks will continue to allow the system to develop and be adapted to different off road vehicles and applications.

Supacat is exhibiting at DSEI 2019 on Stand N9-350, 10-13 March 2019

 

Supacat, Rheinmetall Defence and SCISYS have partnered to showcase a new capability for light forces, the ‘High Mobility Integrated Fires Capability’, at DSEi.  The partnership demonstrates Supacat’s 6×6 HMT platform mounted with Rheinmetall’s MWS81 mortar system in its first integration on a light vehicle.  The target acquisition and integrated fire support platform is networked with SCISYS GVA compliant platform and mission software.

Supacat’s highly mobile HMT platforms with their superior off road performance allow users to perform high tempo operations delivering indirect fire for light role forces while the MWS81 mortar capability allows for rapid ‘into action time’.  The Vingmate sight provides target acquisition and location during day and night operations, with targets being shared over the battlespace data network enabling Support Weapon effects to be directed precisely onto targets.

The SCISYS developed GVA compliant platform and mission software shares data and video around the platform to each crew member’s display and into the battlespace networks, enhancing shared situational awareness and speed of decision making.  The displays are supplied by Leonardo.

“This enhanced capability is a first for light forces and offers a solution to a number of potential requirements among the green army and Special Forces”, said Phil Applegarth, Head of Supacat.

High Mobility Integrated Fires Capability is being demonstrated on the Supacat stand N9-350 on Supacat’s HMT Extenda Mk2 Special Forces vehicle, which is also making its show debut at DSEi. 

Supacat, the UK headquartered Special Forces vehicle developer, is growing its Engineering Services, in parallel to its core OEM vehicle business, to support global primes on defence programmes.  At DSEi 2019 Supacat is highlighting its collaboration with Rheinmetall on four key programmes – the UK’s Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV) Boxer, Challenger 2 Life Extension Programme (CR2 LEP) and the Scout SV turret and on Australia’s Land 400 Phase 2.

“With UK MoD announcements expected on CR2 LEP and MIV, we are fully committed to supporting Rheinmetall wherever we can add value. We currently have engineers on placement with Rheinmetall Landsystemes at Kassel and Unterluess working on ongoing programmes”, said Phil Applegarth, Head of Supacat.

Supacat is renowned for its innovation in developing platforms such as the HMT `Jackal`, and brings this experience in delivering fully-engineered, integrated and battle-ready vehicle systems to both the UK and Australian MoD from its operations in each country.  It is distinctive in the market in offering primes a full OEM engineering capability but with the responsiveness and flexibility of an SME (Small to Medium Enterprise).

“The relationship gives Rheinmetall the agility to rapidly draw on additional and specialist resources from engineering design to rapid prototyping and manufacture through to project and supply chain management”, said Thomas Zierke, Vice President Programmes at Rheinmetall Landsysteme.

Supacat is exhibiting at DSEI 2019 on Stand N9-350, 10-13 March 2019

Pictured: Mock turret for Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank (CR2), manufactured by Supacat to allow validation of the internal layout and optimisation for human interface factors including evacuation.

Supacat, the UK headquartered Special Forces vehicle developer, is showcasing its Light Role Vehicle at DSEi 2019.  LRV offers unrivalled performance in terrain access, range and operator comfort.  Its low weight and packaging offers a genuine `Fly / Drive` tactical capability utilising current in-service aviation assets for rapid intervention operations, while maintaining excellent payload capacity.

Building on Supacat’s experience in building world class high mobility vehicles, the Light Role Vehicle has been designed to deliver exceptional off road performance lowering user fatigue, reducing cognitive burden and enabling the operator to arrive at their objective fit to fight.

Supacat’s ongoing design work has upgraded LRV with a new engine and chassis to provide an optimised mix of bespoke and COTS components.  This delivers an extended platform life with ease of supportability and standardisation across the LRV variants in order to minimise the through life cost and training burden. The design approach also considers ease of manufacture and maintenance.

The Supacat LRV platform is highly modular and offers a range of configuration options to suit a variety of environmental conditions, threat levels and crew requirements.  All variants use a common chassis and driveline with customers able to specify modular elements of the vehicle such as open or closed cabs, seating layout, load platform and weapon systems.

LRV also has the unique feature of being convertible between 6×6 and 4×4, offering users the flexibility to reconfigure the vehicle to meet different operational requirements within hours by the addition or removal of a 3^rd axle module.

“The feedback from our current specialist customer base has been extremely positive and users describe the vehicles as `in a class of its own`,” said Ben Gaffney, Head of New Programmes, Supacat.  “Users love the HMT.  The LRV offers the same level of quality and off road capability, in a smaller and more compact vehicle.”

LRV is ITAR free and can be supported via Supacat’s existing globally available spares network.  LRV has been developed with a common user interface to its Supacat HMT `Jackal` to maximise inter-operability and minimise training.

Supacat is exhibiting at DSEI 2019 on Stand N9-350, 10-13 March 2019

Pictured: Open and closed cab LRV WMIK variants with options for 4 or 5 seats

     

Supacat, the UK headquartered Special Forces vehicle developer, is showing the most advanced version of its world leading special forces vehicle, the HMT Extenda Mk2, for the first time at DSEi 2019.  This latest variant offers a step change in capability and payload capacity with an enhanced suspension system enabling gross vehicle weight to increase to 12,000kg from 10,500kg, and increase crew seating to six from four.  

The Extenda is a variant of Supacat’s successful HMT (High Mobility Transporter) platform, which is operated by Special Forces around the world.  The Norwegian Armed Forces are the first customer for the upgraded HMT Extenda Mk2.

Supacat has undertaken a rigorous and extensive programme of trials to Verify and Validate the performance of the system.  As well as reliability and durability trialling at the Supacat test facility, the vehicle has successfully completed a 12,500km tour of Australia in order to confirm reliability and performance over long distances.

“The innovations to the HMT platform on the latest Extenda deliver increased capability and superior payload and performance.  Our user feedback indicates that the vehicle has exceeded expectations, allowing them to do things they’d previously thought not possible”, said Phil Applegarth, Head of Supacat. 

The chassis is now STANAG compliant for recovery purposes and a 6.7 litre Cummins diesel engine comes as standard.   The blast and ballistic protection option can now be integrated at the factory build stage.

In line with Supacat’s modular design philosophy the latest Extenda provides for a range of configuration options from the factory in addition to the flexibility to re-role the base platform throughout the lifetime of the vehicle with a variety of mission modules and protection levels to meet changing demands.  HMT Extenda has the unique capability of being operated as a 4×4 or 6×6 wheel drive vehicle thanks to a removable 3^rd axle.

Supacat is exhibiting at DSEI 2019 on Stand N9-350, 10-13 March 2019

 

Supacat, part of SC Group, has been supporting Rheinmetall with a wide range of engineering services on vehicle programmes including the Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank Life Extension Programme (Assessment Phase), the company announced at DVD 2018.

Supacat has been a preferred supplier of engineering services to Rheinmetall on the Challenger 2 LEP, which included Supacat fabricating a Human Factors demonstration asset. The two companies have worked together before, with Supacat supporting Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles (RMMV) on a number of programmes and providing specialist staff placements working alongside Rheinmetall Landsysteme (RLS) in Germany.

Thomas Zierke, Vice President Programmes at Rheinmetall Landsysteme, said, “Supacat provides Rheinmetall with a range of excellent support services including supply chain management, project management and engineering design and analysis.  Supacat’s experience and knowledge is renowned, and having its full engineering capability available for us to draw on, gives Rheinmetall the agility to apply additional specialist resources quickly”.

Nick Ames, CEO of SC Group, said, “Supacat is experienced in delivering fully-engineered, integrated and battle-ready vehicle systems to the UK MoD, so there is no doubt that we can add significant value.  SC Group’s long-term strategy for Supacat is to build its engineering services to support successful defence primes, in parallel with its core OEM vehicle business.  Our relationship with Rheinmetall is therefore a highly significant development for us and one which we hope will create future opportunities on programmes such as the British Army’s MIV (Mechanised Infantry Vehicle)”.