Ricardo To Build Thai Black Widow Armored Vehicles

Ricardo has been selected to work on the next phase of its Black Widow Spider 8x8 armoured vehicle programme in support of the Royal Thai Army.

The Defence Technology Institute (DTI) – the Thai ministry of defence’s research and development agency –DTI was set up to develop Thailand’s defence technology capability and to help build the local defence industry; the Black Widow Spider represents its first major military vehicle programme.

DTI and Ricardo have already completed the initial phase of technology development for the Black Widow Spider 8x8, and displayed the vehicle configuration at the recent Defence & Security 2013 exhibition hosted in Bangkok.

The vehicle has been designed to provide protected firepower and extreme mobility in reconnaissance, command and control and fire support roles.

“DTI and Ricardo have agreed to work together to develop the next phase of the Black Widow Spider 8x8 project,” confirmed Colonel Tawiwat Veeraklaew, DTI’s executive director of R&D. “I am looking forward to working closely with Ricardo on this important project for Thailand’s defence industry."

“Ricardo is proud to have been selected by DTI to partner with it on this key vehicle programme,” commented Andy North, Ricardo chief engineer, defence. “This work builds upon our extremely strong reputation for the design, development and production of class-leading, agile and highly crew-protected defence vehicles, including the Foxhound, WMIK and Vixen platforms used by British forces. We look forward to working with DTI on this important programme and helping to develop a truly world-class defence vehicle.”