Scout SV turret contract signed with Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin UK has inked a deal to supply the turret for the Scout Specialist Vehicle (SV) under a £1 billion contract awarded by General Dynamics UK.

Lockheed Martin UK will design, manufacture, integrate and test 245 turrets for the Scout SV under the contract. According to the company, the turret will ‘deliver significant improvements in combat capability, survivability and operational effectiveness for the infantry’.

The work will sustain some 880 jobs at Lockheed Martin’s Ampthill site in Bedfordshire.

Stephen Ball, chief executive, Lockheed Martin UK, said: ‘This contract reflects the significant investment we have made in our workforce in Ampthill and clearly demonstrates our ability to play a key role in the design and development of the armoured fighting vehicles of the future.  The award not only sustains a significant number of highly skilled manufacturing jobs at our Ampthill site but will also greatly benefit our UK supply chain partners with whom we will work to deliver this modern, leading edge capability.’

The UK Ministry of Defence awarded General Dynamics the £3.5 billion contract to deliver 589 Scout SV vehicles to the British Army in September. The family of armoured fighting vehicles, which will be delivered in six variants, will allow the British Army to conduct sustained, expeditionary, full-spectrum and network-enabled operations with a reduced logistics footprint.

Lockheed Martin UK will deliver the first prototype turrets to General Dynamics UK for assembly onto the Scout SV hull in 2015, ahead of the first vehicles being handed over to the army in 2017.

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