SFM Technology News

 

 

 

SFM Technology, one of the West Country’s leading design and manufacturing engineers, has been chosen to be part of a consortium of some 30 companies bidding to win a major MoD contract for Special Purpose Vehicles for UK forces in Afghanistan.

 

An existing supplier to one of the two bid leaders, Supacat, SFM would be a key supplier of special steel fabrications for the vehicles which would be built to replace Snatch Land Rovers. The Company is a regular supplier to the defence and aerospace industries providing any combination of design, prototype development, product enhancements, machining/fabrication/welding, tooling, complete manufacture and assembly. Its customers include AgustaWestland, Airbus (UK), GKN Aerospace, BAE Systems as well as the MoD.

 

SFM’s pedigree is underpinned by its external quality accreditations. SFM Technology is independently recognised for its excellence as an ISO 9001 Registered Company, audited independently by the NQA organisation, covering design, consultancy and manufacturing for the mechanical engineering industries as well as having other supplier approvals from its list of blue chip clients.

 

Following the announcement, SFM’s Sales & Marketing Director, Keith Tridgell, underlined the importance of this project to the company and the entire consortium saying, “The success of this bid would be a further sign that UK technological know-how and production skills are amongst the best in the world and SFM’s contribution would add significantly to our long term growth ambitions, support employment at our sites in Somerset and Bristol and enhance Somerset’s reputation for the provision of advanced engineering services”.

 

 Recently, a chain of over 30 British manufacturers came together in Coventry to promote the all-British, all-new Supacat SPV400 bid to win an imminent £100m Ministry of Defence contract to replace the Snatch Land Rover, which will have significant export potential.  At NP Aerospace’s Coventry facility, where the Supacat SPV400 would be built, representatives from large and small automotive and defence companies across Britain demonstrated their readiness to deliver a world beating vehicle that is urgently needed in Afghanistan.  

 

The SPV400 is a truly all-British designed and built vehicle and is competing for The Light Protected Patrol Vehicle (LPPV) Programme, which will lead to the purchase of an initial batch of 200 vehicles valued at approximately £100m, and an option to buy a further 200 vehicles.  The LPPV competition has created an entirely new class of protected patrol vehicle and therefore opens up significant export opportunities for the successful vehicle.

 

As all Intellectual Property Rights for the SPV400 are UK based, the automotive solution residing with Devon based Supacat and the protection system with Coventry based NP Aerospace, the SPV400 is wholly British owned, which means all export revenues will be fully exploited in the UK.  Supacat holds the Design Authority, guaranteeing the UK retains full control over the technology and future design upgrades - and is free from US ITAR restrictions. 

 

Over 90% of the SPV400 is UK sourced with the supply chain stretching from Darlington, where Cummins UK produce the engine, down to Devon, where the SPV400 is designed by Supacat.  Some 15 of the key suppliers are concentrated in the West Midlands around the Coventry production facility, including GKN Aerospace and GKN Driveline, Pailton Engineering, CSES Engineering, Park Sheetmetal Ltd, Garforth & Goodman, Christy Hydraulics, Dana UK Axles, AFS Ltd, Lighting Aerospace.   

 

“This decision is essential for our soldiers but also for British Industry because the Supacat/NP Aerospace team offers the best and a truly British solution – the SPV400.  Not only would it strengthen the UK’s innovation and engineering skills base and support manufacturing jobs, sustaining between 1000 and 1200 jobs throughout the UK, but it is a true British Export”, said Nick Ames, Managing Director of Supacat, the vehicle’s designer. 

 

Purpose designed to counter the threat of Improvised Explosive Devices in Afghanistan and perform a wide range of patrol tasks in areas inaccessible to heavier vehicles, the Supacat SPV400 offers unprecedented levels of mobility and protection which, in combination, break new ground in military vehicle technology and development.  A light patrol vehicle in the 7.5 ton class, it carries a crew of six (2 +4) and combines an integrated blast and ballistic protection system, including a protected all composite crew pod and V-shaped hull.  On the desert plain it can reach speeds up to 80mph.

 

 “In the UK we still have the capability to design and produce a world beating military vehicle and with the SPV400 the full export benefits will flow back to the UK, helping to underpin continued British development of equipment that best serves our troops on the front line”, said Roger Medwell, Chairman & Chief Executive of NP Aerospace.  “This is an important piece of business for NP Aerospace’s future and for all the British companies in our supply chain and for their employees to sustain high quality engineering jobs”.

 

UK companies, Supacat and NP Aerospace, are respectively world leaders in high mobility, all terrain vehicles and in composite armour protection systems.  NP Aerospace designed the SPV400’s composite crew pod and protection system with access to the UK’s classified armour technology.  The materials used offer protection from a range of threats and at much lower weight than a traditional steel design. 

 

Both have significant experience in working with the British Army, with Supacat currently supplying the Jackal and Coyote vehicles while NP Aerospace integrates and supplies the Mastiff, Ridgback and Wolfhound vehicles. 

 

-ends-

 

Celia Turner, CTPR, on +44 (0)20 7485 7760/ +44 (0)7703 344425 or email celia@ctpr.co.uk  or Jamie Clarke, Supacat Ltd on + 44 (0)1404 891777/ +44 (0)7921 973916 or email jamieclarke@supacat.com

 

For SFM Technology contact Richard Storey, RSL Associates, on +44 (0)1749 870652 or email richard@rslassociates.co.uk or Keith Tridgell on +44 (0)1935 822285 or email keith@sfmtechnology.co.uk