Ricardo

Ricardo plc is a global engineering and strategic, technical and environmental consultancy business working in the defence sector.

It 'delivers engineering programmes across light and heavy land and sea operating spaces and is the partner of choice for many original equipment manufacturers'.

According to Campaign Against the Arms Trade, Ricardo co-developed the Ocelot/Foxhound, 'an armoured vehicle that can be used for patrol, fire support or as a protected logistics vehicle' with US company Force Protection Europe (now owned by General Dynamics. Assembly was carried out at the Ricardo production line in the UK.

The Ocelot was launched at DSEI 2009 (Ricardo, 8.9.2009), and in April 2010 the UK government bought two vehicles for testing (armyrecognition.com), designating it as Foxhound for UK military use. A £180 million contract for 200 vehicles was awarded in December 2010 with delivery to take place between the end of 2011 and spring 2012. Further contracts were received during 2012 and 2013 bringing the total number of Foxhound vehicles to 400 at a cost of £371 million. The final contract was announced at DSEI 2013. (army-recognition.com, 3.12.2013 and gov.uk, 11.9.2013)

The Foxhound was bought to replace the Snatch Land Rovers that had been much criticised for their lack of protection against IEDs (army-technology.com). It was first deployed to Afghanistan in June 2012 with the arrival greeted as great news for our soldiers by Defence Secretary Philip Hammond (MoD, 17.6.2012). It was active in Afghanistan until the UK withdrew its military in 2014.

Hiring ex-General

• Lord Richard Gannatt was employed as a consultant by Ricardo in 2010.

Campaign Against the Arms Trade, From DSEI to Afghanistan, 14 September 2015