Project Review: Supacat prepares for Redfin | ADM Dec 2011 / Jan 2012

Gregor Ferguson | Canberra

British military vehicle company Supacat, whose Nary all-wheel drive vehicle has already been ordered by the Australian SAS Regiment, has established Supacat Team Australia with 14 local partner companies to bid for and deliver a new family of Special Operations Vehicles under JP2097 Ph.1B – Redfin.

This project will see the acquisition of a new family of Special Operations Vehicles (SOV) in three main configurations: Commando (Cdo), Support (Spt) and Logistics (Log); the latter may be shaped by synergies with Project land 121 Ph,4 – Protected Mobility Vehicle (Light). The SOV (Cdo) will equip the 2nd Commando Regiment and other SF units and follows in the footsteps of the Nary SOV which was ordered in 2006 under Ph.1A to replace the SASR’s ageing fleet of Perentie-based Long-Range Patrol Vehicles (LRPV).

This phase of JP2097 also aims to acquire a Networked Special Operations Capability (NSOC) derived from the ADF’s existing (or planned) inventory of C4ISTAR capabilities in order to ensure commonality and interoperability. The total value of this phase, according to the DCP, is a little over $300 million and it’s not been disclosed how many vehicles will be acquired.

Supacat is offering its Special Forces High Mobility Transport (HMT) Extenda vehicle, which has significant commonality with the Nary HMT that it delivered to the DMO in 2009. Several other firms have submitted bids for this project and ADM understands the DMO was expected to name a preferred tenderer around the end of 2011, along with a ‘back-up’ in case it’s unable to get into contract for any reason with the preferred tender. Deliveries of the new vehicle are expected from around 2014 onwards.

The HMT Extenda can be converted rapidly from 4x4 to 6x6 configuration in as little as two hours, according to Supacat general manager Mike Halloran, who will relocate to Australia to head the new subsidiary.

He told ADM at the Supacat team Australia launch in Canberra in October 2011 that the vehicle offered under Ph.1B is closely related to the company’s existing Jackal HMT-400 which is already in British army service – the UK MoD has ordered over 500 in different configurations. The Jackal and Nary are also closely related in design terms so there is significant commonality across the family.

The SF HMT Extenda is essentially a MOTS vehicle and is equipped as standard with an armoured chassis and cab; it can be fitted with demountable steel appliqué armour plates to increase protection as required. It has a 3.5-4 tonne payload, depending on armour configuration, says Halloran, and is likely to run out of stowage volume before it runs out of payload weight capacity.

Supacat is first and foremost an engineering and development house – a ‘compact prime’, in Halloran’s words. He told ADM the company has only a limited, low-volume manufacturing capability and so uses industry partners for this part of the task (in the UK this is Babcock subsidiary Devonport Management Ltd [DML]). However, Supacat itself remains in control right across the product life-cycle, he emphasised, including trials, introduction to service and through-life support.

Supacat Australia is the company’s first overseas subsidiary, and will mirror the parent company by focussing on engineering and development. Marand Precision Engineering and Broens Industries will be responsible for manufacturing and final assembly at a site, which hadn’t been disclosed at the time of writing. Between them these companies have facilities in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide so the final choice will depend on the business case. Through-Life Support for the existing Nary fleet is provided through Perth-based VEEM Pty ltd, who will also support the Redfin Ph.1B fleet, Halloran said.

The rest of the team consists of companies based in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide: Aerostaff, Andrew Engineering, Baker and Provan, Cablex, Eggler Consulting Engineers, Hallmark Logistics & Engineering, Hoffman, PS Management, QinetiQ, Tectonica, and Unique Solution Partners.

Supacat’s founder and managing director, Nick Jones, told ADM the Australian subsidiary would be the base for sales expansion into Asia, though he acknowledged some market development work was required. The company’s long-established All-Terrain Mobility Platform (ATMP) is already in service in Malaysia while variants of the HMT are in service with the US forces under a slightly complex contractual relationship with Lockheed Martin and the original British designer, HMT Vehicles Ltd.