Lockheed Martin UK is delivering turrets manufactured on-site in Bedfordshire to prime contractor General Dynamics for the British Army AJAX programme.
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Press Release, Ampthill, 12 September 2019: Lockheed Martin UK is successfully delivering turrets manufactured on-site in Bedfordshire to prime contractor General Dynamics (GD) for the British Army’s AJAX programme.
Situated on a 64-acre site, the state-of-the art manufacturing facility in Ampthill designs, develops and manufactures the turrets for the AJAX programme. Lockheed Martin is contracted to deliver 245 turrets to GD by 2024. The AJAX turret shares certain common elements with the upgraded turret developed by Lockheed Martin UK for the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme which is currently undergoing Qualification and Verification activity and Battlefield Missions as part of its activities for the Demonstration Phase of the WCSP.
Graeme Myers, AJAX Programme Director at the Ampthill site said: “We have invested significantly into the site and our people to ensure we have the facility, systems and skills needed to solve some of the world’s most complex problems for our customers.
“We are the UK’s only facility which has the ability to design, develop, build, integrate and test turrets for armoured fighting vehicles. We continue to invest in our systems and people so that we remain a world-leader in this area, and to ensure the UK retains this capability”.
The Ampthill facility was injected with a multi-million pound investment by Lockheed Martin to upgrade and modernise its production line; enabling the company to manufacture and integrate high-tech, fully digitised turrets for major armoured vehicles programmes. The site employees around 900 individuals, around half of which are highly skilled jobs.
The impressive Lockheed Martin site is a world-class location for highly-skilled engineering, technical and manufacturing work. The home grown cutting-edge technologies and capabilities bring a huge advantage to UK plc: they are providing jobs for British people, helping to create a competitive and skilled UK supply base, and are ensuring that the UK’s defence sector remains a global leader.
