DVD – THE VITAL PIECE OF THE UOR CHAIN
By Julian Nettlefold
The decision to merge the DVD Show and the MoD’s UOR day at Millbrook Proving Ground, squared the circle for all the MoD’s Procurement Agencies, particularly those dealing with UORs. By dint of their title, UORs require the procurer to have access to the best technology in the shortest possible time to bring this to the troops on the ground to save lives and increase efficiency.
Once again, DVD demonstrated its ability to grow exponentially with the addition of more DE&S Project Teams taking the total to fourteen DVD took this huge increase in Exhibitors and Visitors in its stride, expanding parking facilities and increasing the visitor flow rate through the Main Entrance – no mean feat given the huge increase in visitors this year.
MOD’s Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) equipment and support chain stakeholder event, DVD, held at Millbrook Proving Ground in June, has set fresh standards for overall success and for both military, civilian and exhibitor attendance.
Fourteen DE&S project teams participated in the event, alongside key defence industry suppliers and an Army team that demonstrated new equipment procured through the Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) process. Total visitor numbers, excluding DE&S personnel taking part in the event, were around 7,700, an increase of about 20 per cent on the 2008 show. The number of military visitors, around 1,200, was up approximately 40 per cent on the 2008 event.
DE&S believes that this year’s expanded show was a considerable success and follows on from the firm foundation built at the 2008 event. DE&S teams participating included the Protected Mobility Team, Medical and General Supplies and Defence Clothing, alongside the Army UOR team that demonstrated a range of new or upgraded equipment recently brought into service including Warrior, Panther, Scimitar, Mastiff, Ridgback and Jackal vehicles. Also on show were prototypes of three new vehicles being procured by DE&S which are due to enter service to support operations, the Coyote, Husky and Wolfhound tactical support vehicles.
Chief of Defence Materiel General Sir Kevin O’Donoghue, who leads DE&S, said after visiting the show, “DVD 2009 has been a major success. This is a key event in the defence calendar, providing DE&S and industry with an excellent opportunity to showcase the first class equipment we are delivering to our Armed Forces.”
DE&S Deputy Head of Corporate Communications Haydn Fowler, whose team plans and manages the show, said, “We’re all very pleased with the way this year’s expanded show has gone. It was a team effort – and we could not have accomplished all that we did without the help and support of our colleagues in the Armed Forces, the defence industries and of course the team at the Millbrook Proving Ground. We still have much work to do to review and evaluate DVD 2009, following which we will start to look ahead to next year’s event.”
The uniqueness of DVD provides manufacturers and procurers the ability to try out the equipment in situ and enable attendees to gain firsthand experience of the vehicles’ capabilities. The huge range of SME’s many of whom BATTLESPACE had never even heard of were housed in a new Concept 5 building near the Off-Road area. This allows vehicle manufacturers to discuss adding these products to their systems and also give the SMEs an ability to try the vehicles Off-road to suggest any changes. This is unique to any Exhibition in the world.
Lieutenant General Dick Applegate, Chief of Materiel (Land), said, “DVD is a unique event in the DE&S calendar. It provides an ideal opportunity for the people who are charged with delivery to meet with our wider community to discuss and learn as we all aim to provide the highest levels of technology, capability and service to our Armed Forces on operations.”
DVD provides a unique facility for the MoD and manufactures to bring vehicles, such as the Navi