Jobs protected by multi-million pound British Army deal for Permali Gloucester Ltd

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A £15million deal to supply composite armour plating to the British Army is also protecting scores of jobs in Gloucestershire.

Permali Gloucester Limited is the firm which has gladly taken the ‘hit’ – a deal to supply the armour materials to General Dynamics European Land Systems.

Bristol-Road-based Permali business confirmed the contract would support 34 jobs at its city company and also revealed a second deal for an undisclosed sum.

The materials in the headline deal will be an important part of the ballistic protection measures used in a new AJAX vehicle. The vehicles are being delivered to the British Army by General Dynamics Land Systems-UK.

Colin MacAdam, managing director at Permali said: “This is a seven-year contract and the result of a great deal of hard work by many employees.

“This vehicle sets the standard for the use of the latest technologies – there were many new requirements that had to be achieved. Against international competition, we have demonstrated that Permali has developed world leading composite technology.”

The UK has ordered 589 AJAX vehicles, formerly known as the SCOUT Specialist Vehicle and is a state-of-the-art medium armoured fighting and reconnaissance platform.

Permali will supply composite materials that form a key element of the best-in-class armour protection offered by the vehicle.

As part of Permali's commitment to winning this contract, the company undertook a substantial R&D programme and invested £300,000 in new machinery to manufacture the newly developed materials.

A further investment of more than £1 million in equipment has begun to convert the factory processes to a more energy efficient heating system, which will also increase capacity to supply this contract.

Major General Robert Talbot Rice, director of Land Equipment and the UK’s Defence Equipment and Support organisation, said: “The Ajax vehicle is at the heart of the UK’s new Strike Brigades, giving our Armed Forces the ability to respond rapidly and effectively across a huge variety of terrains.

“The signing of this contract means that Permali will have a key role in supplying world class protection for the British Army’s fleet of next-generation fighting vehicles.”

The firm has also just announced a second contract for an undisclosed sum to supply composite ballistic armour panels to Supacat.

The panels will provide ballistic protection on a specific HMT Extenda vehicle being designed and built for a major order that Supacat will be delivering in 2017/18.

Stu Olden, sales manager for Land Systems at Permali described the contract was “significant”.

Ben Gaffney of Supacat’s new programmes said: “Permali's comprehensive bid response, together with their at-risk testing and engineering design activity, gave us the requisite levels of confidence to place the order.”