Bowman support


Returning damaged equipment to fighting condition, and getting it into the hands of the soldiers who need it, is critically important


Summer 2011


Issue 13 Dynamics 15


18 months ago the Company continued to provide a 24/7 helpline facility to Army technical staff in Iraq, providing essential reach-back support for the Army’s own communications engineers.


Battle weary


In many ways this provided useful experience for what was to happen on Operation Herrick in Afghanistan. Here, the requirement is more for repair and maintenance, as core platforms become battle weary.


“It’s far too slow and expensive to send vehicles


back by sea or air for refurbishment,” says Brian Greenwood, programme manager for FRC at General Dynamics UK. “It’s more cost-effective and efficient to fix or replace items as close as possible to the operational activity.”


An Interim Regeneration Capability (IRC) was


developed by Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) at Northwood, and co-ordinated by Kellog Brown Root, to test the concept. This ran for a year, starting in October 2009. Once the processes were proven, this was replaced with the FRC, this time led by the Defence Support Group (DSG), with a three-year contract running from October 2010.


Much of the FRC work is about repairing and


overhauling a variety of platforms. But Bowman is now such a critical component of so many of the Army’s platforms that it was natural for General Dynamics UK to play a significant part in this programme. And so, since the beginning of the IRC programme, and now as part of FRC, the Company has stationed two people within the workshop facilities in Camp Bastion.


It’s far too slow and expensive to send vehicles back by sea or air for refurbishment. It’s more cost- effective and efficient to fix or replace items as close as possible to the operational activity


Brian Greenwood Programme manager for FRC, General Dynamics UK


Operations are tough on equipment “In many ways, we have simply transferred


engineering processes used in the UK, so it’s just like another centre – Bovington, Donnington and … Camp Bastion,” says Greenwood. “However, we have modified processes a little to ensure we work as effectively as possible alongside DSG.”


Right facilities


While there is talk of withdrawing from Afghanistan within the next few years, the task of supporting the troops there is of such importance that a significant effort has gone into providing the right facilities. The General Dynamics UK engineers – who rotate every three months – work in a highly integrated manner with their DSG colleagues in a modern 26-bay workshop – one of two built recently in Camp Bastion.


Although busy, the engineers also find time to


Five employees were recently presented with Operational Service Medals following their deployment to Camp Bastion. Brigadier Ivan Hooper, BATCIS Team Leader in MoD DE&S (in uniform) presented the medals to Paul Jones, Ross Bates, Simon Nutley, Deri Evans and Bryan Rushton, watched by John Thomas, director of strategy C4I Systems (far left) and Andrew Browne, VP of C4I Systems, (far right)


offer support and advice whenever called on by the Army’s Defence Fielding Team, which is currently responsible for the roll-out of the latest version of Bowman, BCIP5.4, and the USSO – the Army’s technical system support organisation. This ad hoc assistance helps provide some on-the-spot insight, complementing the main support that General Dynamics UK provides from its base in Wales.


The goal of General Dynamics UK’s participation


in FRC is to provide the best possible service to the country’s warfighters. Returning damaged equipment to fighting condition, and getting it into the hands of the soldiers who need it, is critically important. But along the way, the company has benefitted from the experience.


“It has helped us in conveying what the end


user wants, in a timely fashion, to colleagues within General Dynamics UK,” says Greenwood. “And it has influenced our commercial processes to provide more effective delivery to the customer.”


Trusted to deliver


©UK MOD Crown Copyright 2011


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