Ministry of Defence commits £3.5bn to Scout SV programme

As a committed partner of the Scout Specialist Vehicles (Scout SV) programme, Thales UK has welcomed the announcement that prime contractor General Dynamics UK (GDUK) has signed a £3.5bn contract with the Ministry of Defence to deliver 589 of the armoured fighting vehicles. Six variants will be delivered between 2017 and 2024.

Thales UK has already been selected by GD UK to supply Scout’s primary sighting system, and by Lockheed Martin UK (LM UK), the sub-contractor responsible for the design and manufacture of Scout’s turret, for the secondary sighting system.

Thales has also been selected to provide the Local Situational Awareness System, Metsman meteorological sensor, Vehicle-Mounted Acoustic Sensor System and Smoke Grenade Launchers for Scout.

The primary sight enables the commander to maintain a 360° view of the surroundings, has a thermal imager to identify targets, and has a wide-area search-and-detect capability that automatically detects and tracks potential targets from their thermal signature, alerting the crew to their presence.

The secondary sight, for the gunner, gives the ability to detect and identify targets at extended ranges and accurately engage targets at the full range of the main armament. 

Thales UK’s contract with GDUK covers the design, development and supply of a number of primary sights as part of the demonstration phase of Scout. Similarly, the LM UK contract for the second sights is focused on the demonstration phase, which began in 2012. Both programmes are progressing well.

Currently Thales UK’s focus is ensuring a successful and timely conclusion to the development phase, but in parallel we are working closely with GDUK and LM UK towards securing the full-scale production contract for all elements of Scout in 2015.