Urgent Vehicle Modifications Protect British Troops

BAE Systems, MILLBROOK, UK: The UK MoD and BAE Systems have together delivered more than 60 modifications over the last 18 months for UK armoured vehicles as part of a battle of wits to protect British troops facing resourceful and capable adversaries. 
 
The modifications, many designed and fitted by BAE Systems in a matter of weeks to meet urgent operational requirements (UORs), include such things as new armour, external fire suppression systems and night vision systems. They cover most front-line vehicles such as the FV430 (Bulldog) armoured personnel carrier, the Warrior infantry fighting vehicle, the Challenger 2 tank and the Royal Marines’ Viking. 
 
To speed deployment of the new equipment to the front line and ensure its availability for operations, BAE Systems has sent engineers to Iraq. BAE Systems personnel have been based in Basra to support the UOR work on Bulldog since its initial deployment in November 2006 and a team of field service engineers now supports the installation of UORs on Bulldog, CVR (T) and Warrior. 
 
Ian McNeeney, business director support programmes for BAE Systems Land Systems says: “To deliver this enormous surge of activity alongside existing programmes, BAE Systems has increased its engineering and project management workforce on support programmes by more than 50 per cent, drawing on resources from across the company and industry partners.” 
 
BAE Systems has delivered or has under development a total of 81 UOR solutions comprising in excess of 3000 individual modification kits. 
 
BAE Systems personnel are working closely with their MoD and industry counterparts to defeat new threats to our troops as they emerge. In response to specific new threats, new armour solutions have been taken from concept to delivery in a matter of weeks. 
 
“Our UK-based domain knowledge, vehicle integration and project management skills have been critical to the successful delivery of UORs within these very short timescales,” McNeeney added. 
 
UOR work has been carried out alongside existing upgrade programmes. For example, the upgrade of the FV430 series has taken place at the same time as 14 UORs have been delivered to produce the “Bulldog” fighting vehicle which has garnered highly positive feedback from its operators. 
 
BAE Systems is showing off three of the enhanced vehicles – Bulldog, Warrior and CVR(T) – at the Defence Vehicles Dynamics demonstration at Millbrook proving ground on June 27/28. The company designed, built and supports 95 per cent of the UK armoured fighting vehicle fleet.  
 
BAE Systems is a global defence and aerospace company delivering a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions and customer support services. With 88,000 employees worldwide, BAE Systems' sales exceeded £13.7 billion pounds sterling (US25.4 billion dollars) in 2006.