LONDON — Twenty four hours ahead of the NATO summit opening in Newport, Wales, the British government has emphasized its committment to modernize its military capabilities by announcing a £3.5 billion (US $5.8 billion) deal with General Dynamics UK to supply armored fighting vehicles.
The UK arm of General Dynamics, which is based just outside Newport, has secured a deal to supply 589 Scout Specialist Vehicles in six variants starting 2017 and finishing 2024.
The company has, though, dropped plans to have the vehicles’ final assembly and testing take place in the UK and has moved the manufacturing effort to General Dynamics’ operation in Seville, Spain, officials here said. GDUK’s original manufacturing strategy involved Spain fabricating the hull during the full-rate production phase with the British government-owned Defence Support Group (DSG) undertaking assembly and testing.
Announcing the deal, the MoD said the contract would secure more than 1,300 jobs locally.
At one point, General Dynamics said the program would support more than 10,000 jobs in the UK.
One executive said that a reduction in numbers of vehicles to be purchased had changed the economics of a DSG deal.
A spokeswoman for General Dynamics UK said the tie-up with DSG had only ever been an option.
DSG is in the throes of being sold to the private sector. The sale is reaching its final stages with Babcock, DynCorp International and KBR being amongst the bidders.
Introduction of the medium-weight vehicles is a key part of the British Army’s transformation plan, known as Army 2020.
General Dynamics beat BAE Systems to the Scout Specialist Vehicles program in 2010 and secured a £500 million deal to design and develop the family of vehicles based on its ASCOD platform already in service with Spain and Austria.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon in a statement issued Sept. 3 said that the deal was the “biggest single order placed by the MoD for armoured vehicles for around 30 years.”
The armored vehicle deal could be the first of several deals announced in the near future, officials said.
For the first time the MoD has detailed the types and numbers of vehicles the British Army is set to receive from General Dynamics.
About half of the fleet will be based on the Scout SV platform variants carrying a 40mm case-telescoped cannon mounted in a turret being delivered by Lockheed Martin UK. The vehicles will deliver the following roles:
■ Reconnaissance and strike — the principal vehicle for armored cavalry and close reconnaissance troops and platoons; 198 vehicles.
■ Joint fire control — a Scout reconnaissance variant, containing specialist equipment for use by artillery forward observers; 23 vehicles.
■ Ground-based surveillance — a Scout reconnaissance variant, equipped with a man-portable radar system; 24 vehicles.
The remainder of the fleet will be based on the Protected Mobility Reconnaissance Support (PMRS) platform variants, providing the following types of capability:
■ Armoured personnel carrier — a troop-carrying variant which can carry two crew members and four passengers; 59 vehicles.
■■ Engineer reconnaissance — fitted with specialist engineer equipment, including a route-marking system; 51 vehicles.
■ Formation reconnaissance overwatch; 34 vehicles.
■ Command and control; 112 vehicles.
The vehicles will be supported by repair and recovery capability variants including 38 recovery vehicles and 50 repair vehicles.
“The Scout family is a transformantional program that will refresh our armored capability and ensure the Army remains a first-tier maneuver force,” said Sir Peter Wall, the Chief of the General Staff. ■
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