Newcastle upon Tyne . 12 September 2023. Pearson Engineering has furthered its contribution to British Army armoured vehicle programmes, with a contract from KNDS to manufacture Mission Modules for the British Army’s BOXER Mechanised Infantry Vehicle.
The contract award means that BOXER, Challenger 3, and AJAX will all include key components manufactured at Armstrong Works, marking a return to strength for defence manufacturing in Newcastle. As a direct consequence, Pearson Engineering has recently announced over £5,000,000 in capital investments, to enhance manufacturing capability and capacity.
Pearson Engineering’s scope of work is to provide Mission Module hulls for the Armoured Personnel Carrier variant, bringing together a wide range of skills and manufacturing services at Armstrong Works, provided together with daughter company, Responsive Engineering.
“This contract further strengthens our established relationships with KNDS, forged over many years and developed most recently through our work to supply Dry Support Bridge fabrications for export customers. Having contributed to the original BOXER campaign in the UK, we are pleased to officially join the BOXER team and to play our part in delivering next-generation capability to the users of this vehicle.” – Richard Beatson, Business Development Director at Pearson Engineering
“Following a number of recent contract wins, we have a responsibility to deliver critical components and services to a range of UK armoured vehicle programmes. To ensure we meet our commitments, we are investing heavily in our people, our manufacturing capability, and our world-class facility, Armstrong Works. In the coming months, we will install a new 800t press brake, followed by a new 11m gantry milling machine, which will be the largest in Europe. Together, these investments will help us to deliver projects of an even greater scale and complexity, for both defence and commercial customers.
“The teams at both Pearson Engineering and Responsive Engineering take great pride in our significant contribution to these British Army vehicle programmes. We eagerly anticipate these platforms coming successfully into service.” – Craig Priday, Managing Director at Pearson Engineering.
“As Pearson continues to meet our rigorous requirements of providing the highest quality components and service levels, we are pleased to continue our partnership with them as part of our UK supply chain for the BOXER programme. This longstanding partnership demonstrates our commitment to a collaborative approach, supporting further investment in UK engineering and manufacturing.” Ian Anderton, Managing Director of KNDS UK.
