British Army contracted conversion of HMTs to Light Weight Recovery Vehicle.

Posted on January 23, 2023 by nickyyeoman

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.

www.supacat.com

About NP Aerospace

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.

www.npaerospace.com

Media Contacts

Nicky Yeoman

Head of Marketing, Supacat

Tel: +44 (0) 7568 106904

[email protected]

Caroline Hardiman

Marketing Manager, NP Aerospace

Tel: +44 (0) 7585 969841

[email protected]

Supacat delivers upgraded British Army CBRN vehicles to RBSL

Posted on September 22, 2022September 23, 2022 by nickyyeoman

Delivery of British Army CBRN to RBSL

UK defence vehicle developer, Supacat, has delivered the first tranche of upgraded British Army Fuchs/Fox CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear) surveillance and reconnaissance vehicles to Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL).

As part of an overall £16m UK MOD contract awarded to RBSL in October 2020 to upgrade and sustain the British Army’s fleet of Fuchs/Fox vehicles Supacat is conducting the physical integration of the latest chemical and radiological sensing equipment, RBSL having completed the engineering work required to upgrade the CBRN vehicles.

Originally designed and developed by Rheinmetall, the British Army’s Fuchs/Fox vehicles were adapted into a protected platform equipped with automatic systems and sensors for detecting nuclear radiation, CBRN agents and other toxic substances. This latest contract will help modernise the fleet further and ensure operational readiness and effectiveness of the UK CBRN reconnaissance fleet.

The contract is the latest collaboration opportunity between Supacat and RBSL as Supacat grows its Engineering Services business to support global primes in the UK and Australia where it operates.

Phil Applegarth, Director of Supacat, said:

“This contract demonstrates how our relationship with RBSL provides comprehensive engineering expertise to the UK MOD, by increased agility through RBSL collaborating with an SME, and sustains high value jobs and skills in the UK”.

“Our engineers are able to bring extensive experience in delivering fully integrated, battle-proven vehicle systems, as demonstrated by the HMT platform (Jackal and Coyote) to maintain this critical UK MOD capability.”

-ends-

Photography courtesy of Andrew Linnett Crown Copyright.

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 offices in the UK and Australia. Its agility and speed enables 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. www.supacat.com

Media Contacts:

Nicky Yeoman, SC Group: [email protected]

+44 (0) 7568 106904/+44 (0) 1404 892592

Celia Turner, CTPR: [email protected]

Supacat and MBDA show concept demonstrator of new Brimstone HMT

Posted on September 21, 2022September 21, 2022 by nickyyeoman

Overwatch capability for Light Forces at DVD 2022

Supacat and MBDA are jointly showing Brimstone HMT Overwatch, a concept demonstrator of a new tactical capability for Light Forces, at DVD, 21-22 September 2022 at Millbrook UTC, UK. The concept was first unveiled earlier this month at Army Expo.

The UK high mobility defence vehicle specialist and European missiles group have collaborated to integrate MBDA’s Brimstone precision weapon onto Supacat’s HMT vehicle to equip the Light Forces tactical commander with the organic capability to deliver precision anti-armour effects at long ranges and in volume.

Phil Applegarth, Director of Supacat, said, “Overwatch creates a potent new capability for Light Forces, combining HMT’s all terrain agility with Brimstone’s precision effects, and demonstrates the versatility of both elements”.

Mike Mew, UK SBD Director MBDA UK, said: “This Light Overwatch concept showcases how we can take an in-service platform and rapidly deliver an operational capability that provides a major lethality boost to the front-line, while learning lessons to spiral capabilities for the future. This is a great UK industry example of experimentation, supporting Op MOBILISE, accelerating Future Soldier and alignment with the Land Industry Strategy”

Supacat’s HMT (High Mobility Transport) platform is designed for modularity and equipment integration while Brimstone’s ‘one missile, multi-platform’ versatile design can be integrated onto helicopters, fixed wing aircraft (including fast jets), land vehicles, naval platforms and UAVs.

Brimstone HMT Overwatch provides an all-weather fire-and-forget capability and with low collateral damage in restrictive engagement scenarios. It allows for quick and effective engagement and for enhanced flexibility in mission fit capability options to repel adversary formations and single point targets. It has a salvo launch option to achieve co-ordinated effects on multiple targets during a single mission and includes line-of-sight or non-line-of-sight engagements, third-party targeting and high off-boresight agility. Brimstone also provides best-in-class Insensitive Munitions-compliance for safety.

Brimstone and HMT are each battle-proven with Brimstone achieving over 98% operational success rate in defeating static, moving and manoeuvring target sets including MBTs and other armoured vehicles. HMT is operated by British Forces as `Jackal` and `Coyote` and globally by numerous special forces.

-ends-

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 offices in the UK and Australia. Its agility and speed enables 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. www.supacat.com

About MBDA
MBDA is the only European defence group capable of designing and producing missiles and missile systems that correspond to the full range of current and future operational needs of the three armed forces (land, sea and air).
With a significant presence in five European countries and within the USA, in 2021 MBDA achieved revenue of 4.2 billion euros with an order book of 17.8 billion euros. In total, the group offers a range of 45 missile systems and countermeasures products already in operational service and more than 15 others currently in development.
MBDA is jointly owned by Airbus (37.5%), BAE Systems (37.5%), and Leonardo (25%).

For information:

Supacat
Nicky Yeoman, SC Group – Supacat: [email protected]
+44 (0) 7568 106904/+44 (0) 1404 892592
Celia Turner, CTPR: [email protected]
+44(0)7703 344425

MBDA
Nick de Larrinaga
+44 (0) 7812 624739
[email protected]