NP Aerospace wins UK MoD wheeled vehicle support contract

Vehicles and equipment covered in the CCVSSP contract. Picture courtesy of NP Aerospace

NP Aerospace, a global vehicle integrator and armour manufacturer, has announced the award of a £71 million wheeled vehicle support contract called the Conventional Vehicle Systems Spares and Post Design Services (CVSSP) contract. Placed by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), the contract was competitively tendered with bids submitted by major players across the UK defence industry. The contract duration is four years with two options to extend beyond that, of a further one year each.

The UK MoD CVSSP contract will see NP Aerospace deliver Post Design Services (PDS), Design Authority (DA) and Spares Procurement Services to a fleet of over 15,000 UK MoD core vehicles including: the entire Land Rover fleet; Pinzgauer fleet; protected Land Rover; RWMIK and the Lightweight Trailer fleet. The CVSSP contract consolidates and amalgamates former individual MoD PDS contracts providing a new single point of contact. Obsolescence management is a key challenge with some of the MoD’s ageing fleets and the CVSSP contract will ensure that vehicle fleet availability is maintained at the required levels to meet the operational and training needs.

In 2019 NP Aerospace won a similar vehicle support contract known as Protected Mobility Engineering & Technical Support (PMETS) that has since been successfully supporting the MoD’s fleet of over 2000 Protected Mobility Vehicles. The vehicles covered under the PMETS contract include Mastiff, Wolfhound, Ridgback, Buffalo, Choker, RODET, Foxhound, Jackal, Coyote and Husky. Having been successfully delivering PMETS for five years, NP Aerospace is now perfectly placed to align the newly awarded CVSSP contract alongside PMETS using tried and tested procedures that have already gained the confidence of the MoD.

This contract award will create and sustain jobs at NP Aerospace’s Coventry facility and the company’s facilities will be further expanded in due course to enable, integrate and deliver this new contract.

Cutting-edge firepower
Maria Eagle MP, the UK Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry, said: “We will deliver a ‘state of the art’ combat vehicle fleet, ensuring our soldiers are equipped with cutting-edge firepower, protection, and mobility. This new contract will help to secure the future of these crucial capabilities, streamlining the processes involved in repairs and upgrades, while boosting UK economic growth at the same time.”

Brigadier Matt Wilkinson from the Vehicle Support Team at DE&S, said: “We have a long-standing relationship with NP Aerospace and I am delighted that we are able to continue this partnership. Not only does it provide the best possible service to the Armed Forces, but it also aligns with the MoD’s future Land Industrial Strategy initiatives, including an evolution to Land Integrated Operating Services.”

NP Aerospace CEO James Kempston, concluded: “This announcement is huge news for the team at NP Aerospace and we are all delighted to have won this major contract against strong competition. It shows the high regard in which our services are held by the MoD, and that we deliver best value for our customer. The new contract aligns well with NP Aerospace’s abilities to support the MoD’s future LIOS initiative and the Land Mobility, and Land Industrial Strategy. The CVSSP award together with our current PMETS contract provides NP Aerospace with the post design support contracts covering the vast majority of the UK MoD’s lightweight wheeled utility, and protected mobility vehicle fleets.”