Warwickshire firms among those bidding to support major MoD vehicle opportunity

The UK manufacturing supply chain has been looking forward to new opportunities to diversify into supply in defence.

The Ministry of Defence LMV ‘Light Mobility Vehicle’ £2bn+ contract has received much attention in recent weeks, as consortia have promoted their offer around the major biennial DVD defence event at Millbrook.

As the LMV involves replacing 4x4 Land Rover Defenders and Pinzgauer light trucks, the West Midlands supply chain is well placed to support this replacement process. There are 10 consortia who have submitted bids to the MOD, with 6 of these with a local West Midlands interest.

JLR exhibited their Wolf II option at the DVD Show, with the current Defender in military service known as Wolf I. Defender chassis would be taken from the production line in Nitra, Slovakia, and fully fitted out in the UK with powertrain coming from the Wolverhampton plant. 

Another local option is provided by Team Grenadier, with partners Ineos, NMS UK Ltd, Hobson Industries, SMT Developments and TVS Supply Chain. Using a Grenadier base vehicle, here again chassis would come to the UK from France, with BMW powertrain added and armouring carried out locally in Leamington Spa. A recent event for the defence press included the unveiling of a new prototype featuring an armoured steel cabin designed to protect operators up to STANAG 4569 Level II ballistic and blast specifications. SMT Developments already carry out Grenadier conversions for blue light uses at their Spa Park facility.

Elsewhere in the West Midlands, Babcock and Supacat are working with a Toyota Land Cruiser based vehicle with base vehicles and powertrain coming from Japan; NP Aerospace in Coventry are working with GM of the US and BAe Systems and the Team Lionstrike bid utilising a Chevrolet pick-up truck based solution from the US; Ricardo who have a base in Leamington and Shoreham are working with a General Dynamics Land Systems of the US with a Ford Ranger pick-up solution; and RBSL Rheinmetall in Telford have a Mercedes Benz G-Wagon based vehicle.

Elsewhere, there is a bid from UK Fering Technologies with a hybrid electric, carbon chassis vehicle, designed around a modular architecture, featuring an ultra lightweight carbon chassis; Portsmouth Aviation and their HERCULES HCMAV (High Capacity Multirole Assault Vehicle) purpose built platform; US based AM with a Humvee based option and Korean car maker Kia who supply to the South Korean military.

For Coventry, Warwickshire and the wider West Midlands, the LMV opportunity is particularly significant. As well as supplying 3,000 vehicles to the MOD, and possibly up to 9,000 vehicles over the course of the contract, there are opportunities in servicing and maintenance, and also opportunities to supply other armed forces around the world.

Invest Warwickshire is working with partners to promote opportunities in defence supply chain.  Together with Warwickshire Business Growth Service, we work with local businesses to support with commercial premises search, access to finance and support programmes and help with skills and recruitment.

Cllr Rob Howard, portfolio holder for Economy at Warwickshire County Council said:
“We know how important the manufacturing sector is for the Warwickshire economy and all the employment it provides, both directly and indirectly employment and the economic growth it contributes to. We’re keen to help businesses in the sector to diversify into other sectors like aerospace and defence”.

For more information on local business support visit the WBGS website.