BAE Systems plc announced that its vehicles business has won a GBP 50 million, five-year contract from the UK Ministry of Defence, or MOD, to provide engineering support for the British Army's armored vehicle fleet. The work will help protect the capabilities of the British Army now and into the future. The contract, which sustains around 100 jobs at Telford, Shropshire and other UK sites, commenced on 1 January 2015 and covers a wide range of armoured vehicles in the fleet, including light, medium and heavy armoured vehicles.

The innovative contracting arrangement merges existing support contracts into a more efficient and effective agreement. Under its terms, BAE Systems - which maintains design authority - will continue to provide support to Warrior; Titan; Trojan; Panther; Bulldog; Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked); the Challenger Armoured Repair and Recovery Vehicle (CVR(T)) as well as the main battle tank of the British Army - Challenger 2. The company's unique engineering expertise in the upgrade and support of complex military vehicles is unparalleled in the UK with engineers holding specialist knowledge, skills and capabilities in areas such as survivability, combat engineering, vetronics (vehicle electronics) and product safety. The work will be carried out predominantly in Telford, Shropshire, with engineers from Newcastle and Filton, Bristol supporting the heavy armoured vehicles and Panther respectively.

Trials work will take place at MOD test sites such as Bovington in Dorset.