Rapid Development of Trident Manoeuvre Variant

At the end of February in response to the invasion of Ukraine we initiated two new projects, the first a comparatively straightforward reconfiguration of our existing 8×8 extreme terrain variant, the second a complete rework of our forthcoming Trident variant, optimised for covert manoeuvre over extended distances with heavy loads.

Key features that we needed to enhance include the ability to cross water obstacles without preparation and whilst carrying heavy loads, in order to allow rapid movement over difficult terrain cut by numerous water features, without recourse to bridges or fordable crossings. This in addition to further enhancement of rugged and mountainous terrain crossing capability, range extension and improved robustness in a maintenance-sparse environment..

Critically however, we needed to retain sufficient flexibility to optimise the whole-vehicle design to emerging needs, which would inevitably evolve. We needed to be able to accommodate a range of different characteristics without necessarily committing to a specific solution during initial stages of design.

An entirely parametrically-driven model has given us the flexibility to dynamically adjust the complete vehicle design around a number of key characteristics, this combined with modelling and virtualisation allows us to explore performance and behaviour in detail before committing to final configurations, and then move rapidly to production. Additionally, it provides the opportunity to rapidly spawn multiple variants, or to evolve the wider family in light of operational feedback.