Defence minister visits Telford armoured car works
Defence minister Jeremy Quin met the workforce of a Shropshire company about to start production of a new armoured vehicle.
RBSL will build, assemble, integrate and test the new Boxer armoured vehicle structures at its plant in Hadley Park, Telford.
The company has been named as one of the manufacturers of the new vehicle by Artec, a consortium which was awarded a £2.3 billion contract last year to deliver 500 Boxer 8×8 high mobility, network-enabled armoured vehicles.
The contract will support about 1,000 jobs across Britain, including 450 in Telford.
Mr Quin, Minister for Defence Procurement, said: “I’m pleased to see first-hand how the Boxer programme is progressing at RBSL. Each element of the supply chain is important in providing the Army with new state-of-the-art armoured vehicles.
“This visit illustrates yet another example of how defence is levelling up the UK economy through creating and sustaining skilled jobs in military vehicle manufacturing.”
The minister was given a tour of the company’s site and met the workforce, including newly-recruited apprentices who have been brought in to work on the programme.
He said the programme was supported by a nationwide supply chain across Wales and Scotland, the West Midlands and ‘northern powerhouse’ cities.
Variants
The vehicles will form part of the Army’s 'strike' brigades, which are new units set up to deploy rapidly over long distances across varied terrains. Boxer will ensure the Army is well-equipped to transport troops onto the frontline.
The vehicle will come in many variants, with the Army initially buying a mixtures of troop carriers, ambulances, command vehicles and versions designed to carry military equipment.
The Government aims to source more than 60 per of vehicle content from UK suppliers.
Mr Quin was joined by Chris Bushell of the Ministry of Defence for the visit.
Mr Bushell said: “I am delighted that work is now underway to bring Boxer to life.
“We are a step closer to delivering this state-of-the art capability to the armed forces and we will continue to work with the Army and our industry partners to deliver the best equipment and support to our troops.”
The contract was awarded to RBSL after lobbying from Mark Pritchard, MP for The Wrekin.
He said: "I am delighted that the Government is listening to my representations that Shropshire is the best place to do defence engineering in the UK.
"A large order for part of the Boxer vehicle was recently placed by the Government and there are also possibilities of other new orders in the pipeline. This is good news."
