New contract with the British Army

The £1.129m contract will provide valuable information for the whole fleet management of the Challenger 2 tank platform by the UK MoD Defence Equipment & Support Organisation (DE&S).

Tim Rutter, Director of Manufacturing Services at Pearson Engineering, explains, “Pearson Engineering’s technical capability and defence know-how, coupled with the capabilities of the Armstrong Works in Newcastle, enables us to offer a wide range of manufacturing and support services across the entire land defence sector. We are delighted to be supporting the UK MoD in the Challenger 2 structural scanning assessment project.”

Pearson Engineering has a global reputation for designing and delivering Counter-IED, Counter-Mine, Combat Earth Moving, Route Proving and Assault Bridging equipment for Armoured Fighting Vehicles. The company’s many years of experience in successfully designing, developing and delivering defence products combined with the acquisition of the Armstrong Works by its parent company Reece Group, provides a unique opportunity to supply complex manufacturing, repair and support services for defence assets such as armoured hulls, turrets, armour packs and military bridges.

Craig Priday, Managing Director of Pearson Engineering, commented,:”We are delighted to be awarded this important contract. This represents the first step in Pearson Engineering’s strategic commitment to defence manufacturing.”

Acquisition of the Armstrong Works has added an additional 33,000m­² of manufacturing space to Pearson Engineering’s facilities and includes the capability to cut, profile, fabricate, weld and machine armoured steel and aluminium and to test and demonstrate armoured vehicles. In addition, the 20 tonne work piece weld manipulation capability, paint facilities, large capacity vertical and horizontal CNC machining centres and 16,000m² of under-crane assembly allow Pearson Engineering to offer a complete and comprehensive inspection, assembly and test service to its customers.

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