WEW of Weitefeld, Germany announce that they have been awarded a contract by MOD UK to supply 25 fuel tank container systems to the British Army for use in operations overseas. MOD is acquiring the systems to fill an identified capability gap. WEW will build the tank Containers at their Weitefeld site including autarkic diesel power-pack supplied by Alfons Haar of Hamburg, Germany.
The Pump Modules are the first of a new type (KPA 400 B) to be provided by Alfons Haar – building on the success of the original KPA 400 A, of which over 900 modules are in military use worldwide.
The new units will provide the British Army with a significant improvement in fuel delivery capability. The units can be transported by standard DROPS vehicle and MOD UK intends to use the new SVEPLS MAN built trucks (that are also on order) as the “prime-mover”. After unloading the container the system can be operated completely independent of the DROPS vehicle using its autarkic diesel-driven pump.
The order was obtained by WEW under Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) procedures when WEW provided the winning tender in open competition. Invitation to Tender was issued in February 2008 and deliveries of the first production Tank Containers will begin in October 2008; pre-production prototype testing was completed in mid May, 2008. The timescale has greatly impressed MOD officials for a UOR of this volume, especially for a new item. The UOR was managed by the MoD’s GSV-IPT, since the units will be carried by the vehicles that the IPT is also procuring.
In service, the unit needs no additional preparatory work such as trenching/bunding, a typical requirement of traditional pillow-tank solutions. This yields substantial time and manpower savings, of especial importance in forward deployment situations. Further, WEW’s full IMO 1 design requires no problematic de-gassing operations for return deep-sea transport.
The tanks can be transported full or partially empty without any prior preparation for shipping. Build to ISO standards, the reduced-height WEW tank containers can be also handled with DROPS. This gives MOD UK a great deal of flexibility in transporting and handling the units, both through commercial ISO supply-chains and also with their new and sophisticated trucks.
The full IMO 1 units integrate a non-cylindrical pressure-vessel in a patented double-shell design. The elliptical pressure-vessel form reduces the centre of gravity and, during the British
Army’s trials, it was once again shown that this particular WEW tank design is extremely well suited for off road operations for fuel and water transport.
WEW’s water tank variant with similar basic design is in use in large quantities with both the German and US Armies. German, Belgian and other Nato forces also use the full-height fuel variant with a capacity of 22,500L. WEW’s patented double shell design ensures that the units comply with the strictest environmental regulations and the designs fulfil all national and international transport regulations for IMO 1.
In common with most WEW designs, the DROPS fuel Tank Container incorporates many internationally patented innovations.