Force Protection earns UK "Wolfhound" contract

Force Protection's going to the dogs. That is, Force Protection vehicles are delivered to the Brits and given canine nicknames. First, FPI won the contract to provide the "Mastiff" vehicle to Great Britain. Then the company won a contract to make a Cougar 4x4 called the "Ridgback." Now, they will make another modified version of the Cougar, dubbed the Wolfhound.

Force Protection Inc.’s agility and speed of response to customer requirements is playing a key role in winning new orders for its range of mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Moody, pointed to Force Protection’s selection by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) as the Preferred Bidder for the Wolfhound Tactical Support Vehicle (Heavy) programme as an example of the way his company is strengthening its capability to respond to urgent operational requirements. “We completed design work and built two prototypes for Wolfhound, which is based on our highly successful Cougar vehicle, in just 90 days. During this time we also carried out blast tests and mobility trials.”
(DefPro.com)

Defence of the Realm has a photo believed to represent the Wolfhound, along with some information about the program.

6x6 Cougar is to Mastiff as 4x4 Cougar is to ...

Ridgeback (or "Ridgback" as the official MOD page calls it).

Having arrived in the UK, the Cougar base vehicles will morph into the Ridgback - being upgraded with integrated additional protection, weapons, communications systems and specialist electronic counter-measures equipment - and then join their big brother, the Mastiff, on operations.

With the Ridgback we see the continued British preference for eliminating side windows aft of the driver's portion of the cabin.

While I do not doubt that elimating windows increases protection, I do wonder whether the downside is worth it.

Congress OKs Cougar/Ridgeback sale to Brits

LADSON, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Force Protection, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT) today announced that Congress has approved two Cougar Foreign Military Sales to the United Kingdom. The first contract for six Cougar Category I Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles and associated services was awarded on April 29. The second contract for 151 Cougar MRAP vehicles and associated services was awarded on May 1. The total value of the contracts for the 157 vehicles, named Ridgebacks by the British, is approximately $94 million. These contracts are not subject to the terms of Force Protection’s joint venture.
(Read more at Business Wire)

The size of this order if comparable to what the Pentagon ordered from Force Protection in Dec. of 2007.

The number of vehicles is about half the December order. The dollar amount is substantially less ($94 million to $380 million) apparently because the 4x4 Cougar is less expensive than the 6x6--not to discount additional explanations.

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Cougar 4x4's will wear the name "Ridgeback" with the Brits

Via "Defence of the Realm":

After what seem interminable delays – with the announcement having made in Parliament in December – a formal notification has been made to Congress that the UK is looking to buy 157 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles with associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $125 million.

These are the Force Protection 4x4 Cougars which, in British service, will be named "Ridgebacks" and, although the order has not been formally placed with Force Protection, this is the final stage of clearance before a sale can go ahead. It would seem reasonable now to assume that we will shortly be hearing the final details of a contract with the British government.

Force Protection's weak rival (reorganized to avoid bankruptcy last we checked) Protected Vehicles Inc. must be slightly miffed that their "Ridgeback" MRAP isn't the vehicle being sold to the British. PVI marketed its Golan MRAP to the British but the Cougar/Ridgeback came out on top.

I had assumed that the new Cougar order would be up-armored into a new set of Mastiffs, currently in service in Iraq and Afghanistan for our British allies. As it turns out, the Cougar is the Mastiff and the Cougar is the Ridgeback, but a Mastiff isn't a Ridgeback. It could have been worse. The Ridgeback could have been the Mastiff while the Cougar was the Ridgeback where the Cougar was not also the Mastiff.

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