Vital work at Bovington can mean safety on the front line

11:50am Thursday 9th July 2009

By Echo Reporter

DURING the past week another seven British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan – three in armoured vehicles.

Two were killed when their Viking was blown up and another when his vehicle was hit by a Rocket Propelled Grenade.

In few places will those deaths have been more keenly felt than at a Dorset army base.

The work of the Armour Trials and Development Unit (ATDU) at Bovington is literally a matter of life and death.

Staff can’t talk about some things they do after signing the Official Secrets Act.

But the 58 soldiers and civilians make sure armoured vehicles are fit for use, especially in Afghanistan.

The day-to-day trials are carried out by soldiers who have recently returned from combat.

“It gives you the aggression to do the work,” said Lance Corporal of Horse Martin Privett. “If it means working late, you work late.”

Lance Corporal Charlie Manchester said: “At the end of the day it’s going to be me using it and I have got friends out there now.”

The ATDU has been buzzing with activity since troops went into Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Yes, it’s exciting, and yes, it’s fascinating,” said the commander Lt Col Chris Borneman, 43. “I would just rather it didn’t involve soldiers who died or lost limbs.”

There are seven other TDUs across the country. The Bovington staff work on heavier armoured vehicles like the Challenger 2 tank.

The site has a workshop so prototypes can be made and tested as quickly as possible to meet urgent needs from the battlefield.

Civilian workshop manager Andy Jones, from Wool, often sees parts he has worked on appear on the news.

He said: “The wife looks and me and says ‘oh yes?’ I have to say ‘can’t talk about it love, top secret’.”

The armour on some older army vehicles has been criticised, though the troops of the ATDU are impressed with the new vehicles and the improvements to existing models.

Lt Col Borneman said it was 30 per cent down to the equipment, 60 per cent tactics and procedures and 10 per cent luck.

They also test the ‘interface’ between troops and the vehicles – for example can troops get in and out wearing the new Osprey body armour?

The ATDU recently tested the state of the art Panther command vehicle, which is replacing the 1950s designed Ferret armoured car.

Lance Corporal Manchester said: “It’s like going from a Mini Cooper to a Bugatti Veyron.”

The testers try to replicate what the vehicles do in Afghanistan. So they might ‘patrol’ from 7am to 6pm at night.

“It’s every little boy’s dream, and I get paid to do it,” smiled civilian worker Wayne Dennis from Bovington.