The Minister was accompanied by Chris Bushell, the newly appointed Chief of Material Land at Defence, Equipment and Support.
Recently appointed as Minister of State for Defence Procurement, Mr Quin took the opportunity to visit RBSL’s headquarters in Telford, Shropshire. He met employees and apprentices on a site tour and received a briefing on upcoming vehicle programmes.
The visit comes at an important time for the company. RBSL will be one of the primary vehicle manufacturers in the UK producing ‘Boxer’ 8x8 armoured vehicles for the British Army.
An industrialisation programme is currently underway to prepare for the contract, including investment in infrastructure, state-of-the-art facilities, and training in specialist manufacturing engineering.
The MIV contract, announced by the UK MOD in November 2019, will sustain and grow skilled jobs at RBSL sites in Telford, Washington (UK), Bristol, and Dorset. It will also create and sustain hundreds of jobs across the UK with a vibrant supply chain and support the UK’s prosperity agenda with potential export opportunities.
Peter Hardisty, Managing Director of RBSL, said: “It was a pleasure to host the Minister and Mr Bushell at our Telford site and demonstrate our commitment to the MOD, engineering, and manufacturing. Our site is evolving, our people are ready, and our apprentice and graduate community is growing. We hope this investment will not only benefit the Boxer programme, but also future vehicle programmes.”
Jeremy Quin MP, Secretary of State for Defence Procurement, said: “I’m pleased to see first-hand how the Boxer programme is progressing at RBSL. Each element of the supply chain is important in providing the Army with new state-of-the-art armoured vehicles.
“This visit illustrates yet another example of how Defence is levelling-up the UK economy through creating and sustaining skilled jobs in military vehicle manufacturing.”
