Under the terms of the MoU, CMI Defence and Ricardo will respond together to the invitation to tender recently issued by the British Ministry of Defence regarding its Challenger 2 Life Extension Project (LEP), which will see the upgrade of the British Army’s main battle tank fleet. In this process, CMI Defence S.A. will act as the prime contractor, Ricardo UK Ltd being its premium automotive partner.
As the leader of this bid team, CMI Defence provides an extensive history and knowledge of delivering heavy firepower gun-turret systems. Known under the brand name Cockerill®, CMI Defence weapons systems are battle proven, reliable, safe and demonstrate a firepower capability rarely seen on the market. Thanks to this vast history and knowledge set, CMI Defence is thus perfectly positioned to integrate its systems capabilities into the Challenger 2.
Ricardo UK Ltd’s position of leading authority on platform automotive in the UK makes it CMI Defence’s ideal premium partner for the Challenger 2 LEP. Ricardo’s vast wealth of knowledge on Challenger 2 stems from its former successful contracts with DSTL and DE&S for power train studies, which then gave the Authority demonstrable options for Platform Obsolescence Management and upgrade opportunities.
Jean-Luc Maurange, president of CMI Defence, stated: “CMI Defence has the passion, energy, drive and full commitment to becoming the Challenger 2 Design Authority. The bringing together of our two independent companies creates a dynamic, flexible and responsive team. As specialists in the defence land domain, we will create and deliver an innovative solution to not only meet the customers’ needs but also to take into consideration the aspirations of the User (British Army).”
John Stretton, managing director head of defence for Ricardo UK Ltd, stated: “Both our leading expert companies are looking forward to a long term continuation of our already successful relationship. Together, we are perfectly positioned to answer UK MoD’s needs and ambitions for the Challenger 2 fleet.”