THE JACKAL HOWLS
By Julian Nettlefold
The quote from Sri Sathya Baba, ‘Dogs may bark but Jackals howl; but Truth moves Majestically forward,’ is a good epithet for the Jackal Driving Day, put on by Supacat and Babcock Marine on Tuesday April 21st
The day started with the announcement by Mister of State for Procurement The Rt. Hon. Quentin Davies M.P. of a new £74 million order for 110 Jackal 2s and 72 Coyote Tactical Support Vehicles and Supacat and Babcock announced an alliance to build the vehicles.
Supacat as the vehicle designer was awarded the prime contract supported by Babcock as the vehicle manufacturer for whom the contract is worth around £55 million. This contract is in response to the MoD’s latest Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) and is a part of the £700 million Protected Mobility Package announced by the MoD late last year. The vast majority of both vehicle types are scheduled for delivery in 2009 to support operations in Afghanistan. Within the alliance, Supacat, as the design authority will be responsible for design, development, prototyping, integration and overall programme management. Babcock will take responsibility for detailed production planning, purchasing and manufacture at their Devonport dockyard facility.
A single project office, located at Dunkeswell in Devon, will provide overall control. The alliance draws on the key strengths, resources and expertise of each party and combines the best of both. It is underpinned by a commercial construct that sees all costs and risks shared, fees divided equitably for optimised risk and reward management and alignment of both parties to common project objectives.
Jackal 2, based on the original HMT vehicle, is a versatile load/people/weapons carrier with a gross vehicle weight of 7.6 tonnes. Jackal 2 has two seat forward control and a mid-mounted weapons station and two rear seats. The mid-mounted engine, results in a compact vehicle with very good vision and good weight distribution and the ability to drive into Chinook CH47. Suspension, front and rear, is double wishbone with inboard mounted air springs operating through a rocker and push rods. Twin shock absorbers for each of the large diameter wheels control the suspension even over the roughest terrain. The suspension components are all rubber mounted onto a steel plate fabrication to make an axle assembly. These axle assemblies are joined by a deep square tube frame with rollover structure to form a complete rolling chassis frame to which cab and body variants are mounted. Variable ride heights from a minimum ground clearance of 180mm to a maximum of 530mm, combined with spring rates proportional to load, give a very comfortable ride for the crew. The turbo-charged Cummins diesel engine and 5 speed auto-transmission is equipped with a transfer case using high and low ratios and full time 4 wheel drive, and later 6 wheel drive, which can be locked when the going gets tough! Power assisted ABS ventilated discs brakes on all wheels and transmission-parking brake gives adequate stopping power.
BATTLESPACE interviewed the new Operations Director Paul Parnell, who exactly a year before was being interviewed by the Editor in his role at Babcock Marine as Production Director, “In moving to Supacat from Babcock I have been able to meld the two companies to concentrate on their centres of excellence. In doing so we have enabled the Alliance announced today. It embodies the true meaning of an alliance as a co-operative relationship between key contractors on a project working together to deliver significant performance improvements and enhanced business results. The formation of the alliance provides an opportunity to build on that success and work closely with the MoD’s Protected Mobility Team, continuing the already established close and open partnering relationship, with the Supacat-Babcock Alliance taking on the role of ‘provider’ and the MoD as ‘decider’.”
Nick Ames, who took over