12th September 2023 – Newcastle upon Tyne – Pearson Engineering has furthered its contribution to British Army armoured vehicle programmes, with a contract from KNDS to manufacture Mission Modules for the British Army’s BOXER Mechanised Infantry Vehicle.
The contract award means that BOXER, Challenger 3, and AJAX will all include key components manufactured at Armstrong Works, marking a return to strength for defence manufacturing in Newcastle. As a direct consequence, Pearson Engineering has recently announced over £5,000,000 in capital investments, to enhance manufacturing capability and capacity.
Pearson Engineering’s scope of work is to provide Mission Module hulls for the Armoured Personnel Carrier variant, bringing together a wide range of skills and manufacturing services at Armstrong Works, provided together with daughter company, Responsive Engineering.
“This contract further strengthens our established relationships with KNDS, forged over many years and developed most recently through our work to supply Dry Support Bridge fabrications for export customers. Having contributed to the original BOXER campaign in the UK, we are pleased to officially join the BOXER team and to play our part in delivering next-generation capability to the users of this vehicle.” – Richard Beatson, Business Development Director at Pearson Engineering
“Following a number of recent contract wins, we have a responsibility to deliver critical components and services to a range of UK armoured vehicle programmes. To ensure we meet our commitments, we are investing heavily in our people, our manufacturing capability, and our world-class facility, Armstrong Works. In the coming months, we will install a new 800t press brake, followed by a new 11m gantry milling machine, which will be the largest in Europe. Together, these investments will help us to deliver projects of an even greater scale and complexity, for both defence and commercial customers.
“The teams at both Pearson Engineering and Responsive Engineering take great pride in our significant contribution to these British Army vehicle programmes. We eagerly anticipate these platforms coming successfully into service.” – Craig Priday, Managing Director at Pearson Engineering.
“As Pearson continues to meet our rigorous requirements of providing the highest quality components and service levels, we are pleased to continue our partnership with them as part of our UK supply chain for the BOXER programme. This longstanding partnership demonstrates our commitment to a collaborative approach, supporting further investment in UK engineering and manufacturing.” Ian Anderton, Managing Director of KNDS UK.
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Our battle proven minefield breaching products provide armoured vehicles with the capability to defeat anti-tank mines. Whether intended for deliberate breaching or to support ‘freedom of manoeuvre’ for fighting vehicles, our blast-resistant ploughs give Commanders the option to move unimpeded and in doing so, maintain a battlefield advantage.
Our earth loading capability delivers a powerful digging and carrying ability, enabling armoured vehicles to transport materials, clear obstacles, dig and fill trenches and to assist in construction tasks. Our loaders can be provided with varying degrees of function and therefore complexity to support different mission sets.
Our interrogation capability is rooted in providing additional capability for Counter-IED and Route Proving operations. To supplement physical detection from ground engaging roller systems, our interrogation arm can be used to further understand the nature of threats and to identify where risks may be present outside of the path of the roller.
Our obstacle and earth moving products include general purpose and multi-purpose dozer blades, designed specifically to meet the needs of different mission sets. Our blades are designed to be tough, robust and lightweight, enabling a wide range of obstacle and earth moving activities whilst minimising the impact on the vehicle’s mobility.
Typically used alongside Pearson Engineering’s Route Opening Mine Plough, Surface Clearance Device or Route Proving rollers, our highly configurable obstacle marking systems support battlefield mobility by quickly and reliably marking safe lanes and the edge of hazardous areas.
Our excavation capability is designed to support combat engineer operations such as digging, demolishing, removing obstacles and filling trenches to support Area Access and Area Denial.
Our approach is often described as a ‘Swiss Army Knife’ in that host vehicles can be adapted to take on various combat engineering roles, or to overcome challenges to mobility. Integration of our products with the vehicle is made via a Pearson Engineering Direct Fit Interface or Pearson Engineering Quick Connect. The most suitable integration method depends on the mission requirements and vehicle capabilities. Our engineers will work closely with end-users and vehicle manufacturers to define the most appropriate route to minimise the impact on the vehicle and to maximise operational capability. Decisions are often based on hydraulic and electrical availability as well as the required role of the vehicle. Our integration kits are used to fit products that are designed to enhance armoured vehicle agility, tactical flexibility and adaptability. They are designed to be configurable and to deliver ‘freedom of manoeuvre’ to operations.
Our recovery capability includes a range of dedicated and multi-purpose blades which are primarily designed to support the recovery of other vehicles and for moving of heavy obstacles. A powerful ground-engaging blade sinks into the earth to hold a vehicle static, acting as the force against which the obstacle can be pulled. The same blade can be articulated to provide some obstacle and earth moving capability.
Surface laid mines represent a rising threat as Armed Forces turn their attention to near peer conflict. Our solutions, each designed to support the missions of dedicated combat engineer vehicles or fighting vehicles, provide a comprehensive detect and displace capability to support deliberate clearance or self-extraction in the face of air delivered scatterable mines.
Our highly configurable rollers have saved countless lives, limbs and assets on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and have succeeded in ensuring ‘freedom of manoeuvre’ for soldiers around the world. Provided as either a full-width ‘route proving’ variant to actively check routes for the presence of Improvised Explosive Devices, or as a track-width ‘self-protection’ variant, our rollers are designed specifically to meet the needs of wide-ranging operational requirements. Our continued Research & Development and our approach to customisation provides confidence to those who use them.
Like all of Pearson Engineering’s products, our assault gap crossing solutions are designed to be modular, to be interchangeable with other mobility and counter-mobility equipment and to support ‘freedom of manoeuvre’ on the battlefield. In a time when units are tasked to ‘march divided and fight united’, independent manoeuvre support is key.
Our range of Mine Clearance platforms and tools provide Armed Forces and other organisations with scalable solutions for mine clearance, explosive ordnance disposal and the defeat of improvised explosive devices. Our platforms and their tools can also be used to create mobility challenges for adversaries. Proven around the world, these mine clearance platforms and their tools are designed specifically to meet the needs of different operational contexts from large area clearance to support logistics and peace keeping operations through to clearance in complex terrain.