New jobs on way as turret production facility building complete

The new facility at Lockheed Martin UK’s Ampthill site will produce turrets for British Army armoured vehicles.

When the £5.5 million project underway, the new building will form a complete production line to manufacture new turrets for the Warrior and Scout SV armoured vehicles, from development through to integration and testing. It will be capable of producing up to 10 turrets every month.

It will bring the investment in the Bedfordshire business to £23 million over the past 10 years and will create more opportunities to join the 900-strong workforce already employed at the site.

A ceremony was held last week to mark the completion of the building work. Tony Douglas, the new chief executive of Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) – the organisation within the MoD responsible for kitting out the UK’s armed forces on current and future operations – attended the ceremony.

Vice President and Managing Director of the Ampthill site Alan Lines said: “We are so pleased to see the building work completed and to mark this milestone.

“The turrets that will be manufactured in this new facility have been designed and developed here in Bedfordshire and the new production line will help to make Ampthill a world-class location for this highly-skilled and technical work.”

The whole facility will be officially opened later in the spring, when it will be kitted out with equipment such as paint booths, grit blasters and integration bays ready to join the adjacent buildings in manufacturing the turrets.