General Dynamics [GD] UK was awarded an approximately $3.2 million contract by the U.K. Ministry of Defence to support the newly opened Equipment Sustainability System (ESS) run by the Defence Support Group (DSG) at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan.
Building on its presence in Camp Bastion over the last three years, General Dynamics UK will continue to provide in-theatre support to the Bowman program.
The company’s presence in Camp Bastion has meant that a wider group of contractors is able to repair, re-role and return vehicles to the front line within shorter time periods. This ultimately establishes a full-time, in-country maintenance facility for General Dynamics UK, the company said in a statement.
The General Dynamics UK team provides a specialist Bowman capability working alongside DSG to conduct Bowman “In & Out” Inspections, culminating in the Full Functional Test for all known core platform vehicles, and a Bowman system check for all non-Core UOR platforms. In addition, the team provides a Bowman cable repair capability and additional support on an ad-hoc basis to the MoD’s Defence Fielding Team as part of current Bowman 5.4 uplift activities.
The newly commissioned Full Regeneration facility consists of two 26-bay workshops, a large logistics and stores troop building and a large optronics building, complete with a “clean room” environment. While the current General Dynamics UK team will be focused on repair of vehicles in the workshops, there is the potential for additional teams from the company to embed themselves at the ESS as more of its equipment comes into use by the British Forces.
Each General Dynamics UK support team is on a strict three-month rotation in Camp Bastion, and the most recent team to return from Afghanistan was awarded the Operational Service Medal by Brigadier Ivan Hooper, BATCIS Team Leader at the MoD’s Defence Equipment & Support organization.