LONDON — Rheinmetall has become the latest supplier to declare it has signed a production contract as part of the program to equip the British Army with a new family of Scout specialist vehicles.
The German company said it had signed a 130 million euro (US $142 million) deal with turret prime Lockheed Martin UK to supply up to 245 units for the reconnaissance version of the Scout vehicle.
The turret structures, known as the citadel, are scheduled to be delivered to Lockheed Martin's Ampthill factory near London where they will be assembled and integrated alongside other systems and components .
The tracked Scout SVs, set to replace the British Army's long-serving Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) machines, are being developed and built by General Dynamics.
The contractor won a £500 million (US $781 million) development deal in 2010 and followed that up last September with a £3.5 billion production contract from the British Ministry of Defence to build 589 vehicles based on its ASCOD design.
The key vehicle type in the program is the Scout reconnaissance variant equipped with the Lockheed Martin-supplied turret fitted with CTA International's new and unique 40mm cannon, firing case telescoped ammunition.
"In its capacity as subcontractor Rheinmetall has been in charge first of design and engineering, and now of producing, the turret structure and weapon mount," the German company said in a statement Aug 3.
The first production unit is scheduled for July 2016. The contract award will mainly benefit Rheinmetall Defence Group's Kassel, Germany, plant, where fabrication as well as final assembly will take place, the company said.
The Rheinmetall contract is the second inside a week to be announced by major suppliers involved in the Scout SV program. Last week it was Thales' turn to announce it had signed a deal worth £125 million to supply the primary sight, local situational awareness camera system and smoke dispenser for the Scout variant. Some 245 ship sets of equipment will be built at Thales' optronics facility in Glasgow, Scotland.
At least one further Scout SV supplier contract is expected to be announced in the next few days.
Last month British Prime Minister David Cameron announced vehicle prime contractor General Dynamics had reversed an earlier decision to have the fleet of vehicles entirely assembled and delivered from the GDeneral Dynamics European Land Systems' Santa Barbara Sistemas plant in Spain and have some of the work undertaken in south Wales, near where it already has its UK headquarters.
The switch of some assembly to Britain was accompanied by an announcement that the UK government had awarded the company a £390 million deal extending a support contract by four years to 2024.
The first 100 vehicles — including the Scout, protected mobility reconnaissance support, and command-and-control and other variants all based on a common platform — will be delivered from Spain, but the remaining machines will be assembled, integrated and tested in Wales.
"We will undertake the assembly, integration and testing (AIT) of 489 SCOUT SV platforms, which will include the AIT of SCOUT SV equipment, including the turret, delivered by Lockheed Martin UK, its electronic architecture and other integral systems onto each platform," the company said in a statement. "General Dynamics European Land Systems will provide the hulls, running gear, power packs and automotive electronics for all 589 SCOUT SV platforms, and will assemble, integrate and test 100 platforms."
The company, though, said it was "still determining the exact level of assembly and sub-assembly that will be delivered to Wales."
The British facility will be fully operational in 2017 and the first locally completed vehicle is due in late 2018, the company said.
Email: achuter@defensenews.com
Andrew Chuter is the United Kingdom correspondent for Defense News.