British vehicle protection specialist Jankel has received a major order from Supacat to supply 70 blast and seating protection systems for Supacat HMT high-mobility vehicles, Jankel announced on 26 April 2023.
The order has been placed to enable the rapid production of 70 new Jackal vehicles for the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD): a contract that was announced by Supacat and its production partner Babcock on 23 February 2023. Now in receipt of this order, Jankel will commence production ramp-up immediately.
The protection systems selected and ordered by Supacat include blast-protected integrated crew cabs and Jankel’s BLASTech mitigating crew seating systems (four seats per vehicle). Jankel’s integrated blast protection products help protect the crew from mines and under-vehicle improvised explosive devices while retaining all the necessary usability for the operators. Broadly similar in design to what is fitted to the British Army’s Jackal and Coyote in-service HMT vehicle fleet, the latest configurations selected by Supacat will be more closely aligned to the protection systems fitted to Supacat’s overseas customers in Australia and Norway. Having taken on board operational feedback from many years of high-intensity HMT vehicle use in Afghanistan, as well as subsequently on peace support operations in Mali, Jankel has refined the designs since the British Army’s Jackal 2A configurations were delivered with the aim of further enhancing crew protection, comfort, functionality and safety.
Prior to receiving this most recent order, Jankel has remained a longstanding key supplier to Supacat and Babcock; having worked closely with those companies for over 15 years to design, develop, test, deliver and support around 1,000 protected HMT vehicles to a range of global customers, including Norway, Australia and the UK. The British armed forces procured over 600 HMT vehicles as a series of urgent operational requirements (UORs) for Afghanistan, many of which were subsequently brought into the UK’s core vehicle fleet.
“We are delighted to extend our longstanding relationship with Jankel with this important order,” Nick Ames, CEO at SC Group, of which Supacat is a part, was quoted as saying in a Jankel press release. “Jankel have supported our UK and export programmes over many years with world-class armour and protection systems for our world-class vehicle.”
“The receipt of this order is fantastic news for Jankel and for the wider UK defence industry,” added Andrew Jankel, the company’s chairman. “As a UK-based supplier on this programme, we’re fully aligned with the [UK MoD’s] Land Industrial Strategy, delivering onshore capability into yet another major UK MoD vehicle programme.”
Peter Felstead
