Ultra Electronics wins £6.3m Warrior contract

DEFENCE sector supplier Ultra Electronics, which has operations in Birmingham and Rugeley, has won a £6.3m development contract for the power distribution system on the British Army’s Warrior tank.

The firm’s Precision Air & Land Systems (PALS) business, based in Cheltenham, was awarded the contract by Lockheed Martin UK under the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme (WCSP) for the development of a new power distribution system for the Warrior.

The new power distribution system will deliver power management capability for each of the Warrior vehicle variants. Ultra will employ advanced design techniques to increase the power switching density and efficiency within existing vehicle space constraints without the need for expensive and bulky cooling systems, traditionally seen in legacy armoured fighting vehicles.

The WCSP development phase is due to complete in 2015 with serial production, worth a further £21.5m to Ultra Electronics, commencing in 2016. 

Rakesh Sharma, chief executive of Ultra, said: “I am delighted that we have been awarded the WCSP power distribution system development contract and that the first phase of this programme has now been initiated; it marks six years of investment and support into both WCSP and our relationship with LMUK.

“We look forward to working with our partners to successfully complete the development work and to transition into the production phase of this important programme for the British Army.”