As part of the British Army’s contribution, 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment are due to deploy on Operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 3 PARA have recently taken over a number of Foxhound vehicles for use in a civil capacity whilst on operations. Tradesmen from 8 Para Fd Coy, 103 Bn REME (Reserves) and members of the Foxhound Project Team (PT) have recently been fitting modifications to the Foxhound. This project is just one part of 13 Air Assault Support Regiment on-going support to operations in Europe later this year.
This has provided the perfect situation to show how these 3 individual teams can work together whilst also implementing their training in LEAN. LEAN in engineering, it is a philosophy of implementing the most efficient procedures to complete a given task and is widely used across the REME. Example being in this case rather than fit the modification to the vehicle part by part, they worked out they could set up a mini production line that assembled the modification before fitting it to the vehicle, hence saving time and effort.
The Force Protection Ocelot is a British armoured vehicle that is scheduled to replace the United Kingdom’s Snatch Land Rover with British forces. It received the service name Foxhound, in line with the canine names given to other wheeled armored vehicles in current British use such as Mastiff, Wolfhound, and Ridgeback, which are all variants of the Cougar. Designed by Force Protection Europe and Ricardo, the Ocelot is intended for use as a light protected patrol vehicle (LPPV) with specialised protection against roadside bombs and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
This is smaller than most Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected (MRAP) vehicles,[4] but larger than the Humvee replacement vehicles being developed through the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program.The design is modular, and all of the components can be removed easily. The protective pod where up to six people can sit is interchangeable to allow easy modification according to the vehicle’s role. For example, it can perform as an ambulance, supply vehicle, or jeep. Parts can also be easily replaced for minimum service time.
