SC Group Information

SC Group is a British multi-faceted engineering company which prior to a re-brand in September 2015 was known as Supacat Limited. Supacat was established in 1981 and based at Dunkeswell Aerodrome in England. SC Group now comprises four companies: Supacat, SC Innovation, Proteum and Blackhill Engineering.

SC Group initially specialised in the design and development of military and civil high mobility vehicles. Throughout the last decade the company expanded its portfolio considerably to encompass developing equipment for operation in harsh environments in sectors including marine, renewables, mineral exploration, oil and gas and nuclear power. During 2014, the then Supacat made a series of acquisitions in the commercial marine sector leading to the creation of the now Proteum based in Hamble, UK. At the end of 2014 Exeter-based heavy fabrication specialist, Blackhill Engineering, was acquired.

Supacat Limited rebranded to SC Group on 10 September 2015. SC Group is the trading brand of SC Group - Global Limited. The current Chief Executive is Nick Ames who joined the company in 2003. Nick Jones, original co-founder of Supacat, remains a Director of SC Group.

The Supacat brand is retained by SC Group for the groups core defence business. Supacat develops and supports high mobility military vehicles and provides specialist engineering services for defence customers, and recently established itself in Australia.

Supacat Pty Ltd was established in 2011 with an office in Victoria, Australia. In March 2012 Supacat Pty Ltd acquired Australian engineering design services company Unique Solutions Providers for an undisclosed amount. Supacat managing director Nick Ames said at the time: "The acquisition is the first in Supacat’s 30-year history and supports our strategy to access new regional markets and new industry sectors. It enables us to improve support for our vehicle fleets in service with the Australian Defence Force and it complements Supacat’s diversification into the oil and gas and renewable energy sectors." Supacat Australia was named on 4 September 2015 by Rheinmetall Defence as the first Australian company to be part of its Land 400 Phase 2 Mounted Combat Reconnaissance Capability team for which the company will offer Boxer. Supacat is also a member of Rheinmetalls Challenger 2 Life Extension Project (C2 LEP) team.

The All Terrain Mobility Platform (ATMP) is a 6x6 marginal terrain vehicle now in its fourth generation. Around 200 ATMPs have been supplied to mainly military users since 1982, these including the armed forces of Canada, Malaysia, Mexico and the UK.

The High Mobility Transporter (HMT) vehicle platform is produced in three variants the HMT 400 (4x4), the HMT 600 (6x6) and the HMT Extenda (configurable between 4x4 and 6x6). A HMT 800 (8x8) variant is also available. The HMT was designed in mid-1999 by HMT Supacat Limited later renamed to HMT Vehicles Limited. In 2004, Lockheed Martin entered into a licence agreement with HMT Vehicles Ltd to manufacture and sell the HMT in North America. In 2006, Lockheed Martin (UK) acquired HMT Vehicles Ltd who licensed the design back to Supacat.

The HMT 400, the first of the platform to enter service, was developed for the United Kingdom Special Forces procured under Project Minacity to replace the Land Rover 110 Desert Patrol Vehicle. A contract was awarded in 2001 for 65 vehicles that entered service in 2003-2004 in Afghanistan following tenders in the late 1990s. In 2004, the U.S. Army Delta Force purchased 47 similarly configured vehicles designated Marauders which were delivered in 2004-2005.

In 2006, Danish Army Hunter Corps ordered 15 HMT Extenda vehicles. In 2007, the Australian Army Special Air Service Regiment ordered 31 HMT Extenda vehicles known as Nary designated as the Special Operations Vehicle-Special Reconnaissance (SOV-SR) which due to technical problems did not enter service until 2011.

In 2014, the Australian Army 2nd Commando Regiment ordered 89 HMT Extenda MK2 vehicles known as the Special Operations Vehicle-Commando (SOV-Cdo) that will be reconfigurable in four configurations. In 2015, the Norwegian Army Forsvarets Spesialkommando ordered an undisclosed number of HMT Extenda vehicles to be delivered from 2017 to 2019. In 2016, the New Zealand Special Air Service ordered an undisclosed number of HMT Extenda vehicles designated as the Special Operations Vehicles – Mobility Heavy (SOV-MH) to be delivered from late 2017.

The British Army is the biggest user of the HMT with purchases between June 2007 and late 2010 of the HMT 400 designated as the Jackal and HMT 600 designated as the Coyote totalling 575 vehicles.

The British Army has also developed specialist variants of the HMT. In August 2003, it was announced that a Lockheed Martin UK-led team had been selected by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) as preferred supplier for Project Soothsayer, the next-generation battlefield electronic warfare system for the British Army and Royal Marines. An HMT 600 platform was selected as the base platform and 35 chassis were manufactured. Soothsayer was cancelled in mid-2009 and these chassis are currently surplus to requirement. In August 2003, the UK Defence Procurement Agency (DPA) awarded a GBP6 million contract to then INSYS (now Lockheed Martin UK) to design, build and test a system demonstrator of the Lightweight Mobile Artillery System Rocket (LIMAWS(R)) for the British Army. The system was expected to enter service in 2007 with 24 6x4 vehicles based on the HMT 600 required for the project. It was confirmed in May 2008 that the LIMAWS(R) project had been cancelled. The HMT 800 was the base for the BAE Systems Land Systems portee version of its M777 155mm lightweight howitzer, one of two candidates for the UK MoDs Lightweight Mobile Artillery Weapon System Gun (LIMAWS(G)) project. It was confirmed in September 2007 that LIMAWS(G) had been cancelled. Supacats HMT 600 is the chosen ground station platform for the UK MoDs Watchkeeper unmanned air vehicle (UAV) project.

HMT operators

Failed bids

The Supacat Protected Vehicle 400 (SPV 400) is a protected light 4x4 vehicle featuring a V-shaped steel chassis hull onto which is fitted a composite crew pod shown at Eurosatory 2012.

The Light Armoured Multipurpose Vehicle (LAMV) was developed with technical input from Supacat and was shown in February 2014 by the Indian company of Tata.

The Light Reconnaissance Vehicle 400 (LRV 400) MK2 is an open lightweight 4x4 vehicle based on the Land Rover Discovery platform which can be transported internally in a CH-47 Chinook shown at DSEi 2015. A 6x6 variant has also been designed similar to the HMT Extenda. Supacat is offering the LRV 400 for the Dutch Army Defence-wide Wheeled Vehicle Replacement Programme (DVOW).

The Royal Marines 3 Commando Brigades Surveillance and Reconnaissance Squadron (SRS) Oversnow Reconnaissance Vehicle (ORV) is Bombardier Lynx snowmobile which has been modified for military use by Supacat.

SC Innovation provides engineering solutions to support all SC Group non-defence business. SC Innovation incorporates specialist vehicle work with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and the emergency services together with products and services for sectors such as oil and gas, marine, renewable energy and nuclear.Products include:

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