The UK operations of Vickers Defence Systems have been merged with those of Alvis’s existing UK armoured vehicle company, Alvis Vehicles Limited, in a combined UK business called Alvis Vickers Limited (AVL). This is one company with modern facilities in Telford, Newcastle upon Tyne, Leeds and Wolverhampton.
The combined complementary technical expertise of Vickers Defence Systems with Alvis Vehicles’ background in light and medium armoured vehicles enables the combined company to offer a comprehensive capability to its worldwide customer base.
AVL offers a wide product range which includes Warrior, Challenger 2 and 2E, the long-established Scorpion and Stormer, the Piranha family (built under licence from MOWAG), Tactica internal security vehicles, Supacat all-terrain mobile platforms, and armoured engineering support vehicles including the BR90 bridging system. The strength of the product pedigree is proven by the fact that over 98% of the British Army’s armoured vehicles have been built by Alvis Vickers.
The first major order for the newly merged companies came from the Royal Jordanian Armed forces who declared their intention to procure the Precision Gunnery Training Equipment (PGTE) for the Al Hussein Main Battle Tank.
At present, AVL are designing and manufacturing two new prototype vehicles, Titan and Trojan for the Royal Engineers. This is part of a SMART programme contracted by the British Army to design and manufacture 66 new engineering vehicles.
As the UK’s sole armoured vehicle manufacturer, AVL is also playing a leading role in a number of other UK programmes. AVL is competing with its RG-32M and MLV vehicles for Future Command and Liaison Vehicle, a light wheeled armoured vehicle to provide protected mobility for command and liaison roles.