Stockport manufacturer partners with Rolls Royce on British Army contract

Stockport defence manufacturer, WFEL, has announced that Rolls Royce will supply engines for Boxer Armoured vehicles being built for the British Army.

The engine manufacturer has been selected by both WFEL and Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL), a Telford-based business also delivering the vehicles for the armed forces, to supply its 600kW output MTU 8v 199 TS21 engines. Vehicles being supplied to British Army will be the first of their kind to use this engine variant, which offers an additional 70kW of power than those used in previous models.

523 units will be produced in Rolls Royce’s facility in East Grinstead, West Sussex, for the UK MOD’s Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV) programme. These will be delivered to another partner on the contract in Huddersfield to complete the powerpack assembly, before delivery to WFEL and RBSL where the armoured vehicles will be assembled.

Andrew Munt, Boxer Programme Director for WFEL, said:

“Boxer vehicle hull production is now well under way here at WFEL in Stockport.  As we move into the vehicle assembly phase, we are delighted to contract with Rolls Royce for the supply of MTU engines.”

David Eaton, Director-Governmental at Rolls-Royce Solutions UK, said:

“We have been working energetically with our industry partners for a number of years to reach this point and are very much looking forward to delivering our engines to power these state-of-the-art, British-built infantry vehicles.”

WFEL and RBSL are part of a Boxer Joint Procurement Team which aims to deliver a secure £3.2 billion supply chain for the armoured vehicles for the UK military. The contract to supply over 600 vehicles to the British Army has enabled the Stockport manufacturer to expand its premises in Heaton Chapel and create around 120 new jobs in the town.