Bridport’s Amsafe work safeguarded with £10.6m contract (From Dorset Echo)
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Bridport’s Amsafe work safeguarded with £10.6m contract
2:00pm Thursday 14th February 2013 in News By Rene Gerryts
GOOD NEWS: Amsafe in Bridport has won a £10.6 million contract to supply Tarian rocket-propelled grenade protection system
A DEFENCE contract worth £10.6million has safeguarded jobs at Bridport’s Amsafe.
The multi-million pound deal could mean scores of new jobs at The Court works in West Street.
Amsafe says it is embargoed by the Ministry of Defence from saying if the contract will mean more work for the town, but said it has safeguarded the 135-strong workforce and it is “certainly very good news for the company”.
Amsafe is to supply the MOD with its Tarian net system which will be protecting army vehicles in Afghanistan from rocket propelled grenades.
Amsafe won the contract following an international competition after the Tarian system came out top against two rivals in a programme of rigorous testing and trials, including live firing and vehicle field trials.
The contract, which includes the supply of several hundred Tarian kits, will be completed by the end of 2013.
The Tarian has been deployed and proven on vehicles in Afghanistan since May 2009, and as QuickShield bar armour repair kits, fitted to vehicles to replace damaged bar armour, since April 2011.
Neal McKeever, sales and marketing director at AmSafe Bridport Ltd, said: “AmSafe Bridport is delighted to have won this significant contract for the UK MoD. This contract win demonstrates that Tarian is the rocket propelled grenade (RPG) protection technology of choice to meet armed forces requirements for effective RPG protection.”
The nets are attached to vehicles using flexible mounts that enable the system to withstand harsh vehicle operating conditions without sustaining damage, he added.
Last year Amsafe celebrated the end of the six-year development phase of a $45million contract with Airbus. The original contract to supply the military Airbus with lightweight barrier nets was won in 2006.
On the back of the work done for the Airbus, Boeing awarded Amsafe a similar contract to supply equipment for 179 US military flight refueling tankers.
The TransDigm Group, a global designer, producer and supplier of highly engineered aircraft components, bought AmSafe for around $750 million in January 2012.
