Vehicle Engineering

The rapidly changing nature of combat operations is placing new and increased demands on the automotive systems of defence vehicle platforms. Upgrades and new vehicle solutions are required to provide an increase in automotive capability and durability. Ricardo is uniquely placed to offer a ‘one stop shop’ in defence vehicle systems engineering from concept development and validation to production implementation.

Defence vehicles engineered to meet the most exacting operational challenges:

• Whole vehicle and sub-system design capability from concept to high quality manufacturing and including protected body, chassis and drivetrain systems
• Technical and commercial assessment of vehicle systems for new defence applications including market research, trend analysis and technology readiness evaluation
• Ricardo’s technical expertise enables the full potential of cost-effective commercial vehicle platforms and sub-systems to be realized in the defence environment
• Alternatively radically new concepts and designs can be taken from an operational requirements specification to a validated production vehicle
• Comprehensive programme management capability using world-class industrial processes from bespoke conversions and upgrades to completely new vehicles
• Systems engineering, FMEA, integration, analysis and balancing
• Ricardo’s CAE intensive engineering processes enable right first time design, including structural and dynamics optimization, and blast, crash and roll-over protection system modelling
• Our independence gives us a completely objective technical and engineering perspective – and we are often also able to respond far more quickly and flexibly than vehicle and sub-system manufacturer