British specialist contract metals manufacturing company MTL Group (MTL) announced on Tuesday that it is to manufacture new armoured hulls for the South African-designed and -manufactured Mamba mine protected vehicles. These new hulls will be supplied in kit form to South African company Panzer Technologies, and assembled in South Africa.

It is not clear if these hulls will be employed to upgrade existing Mamba vehicles, or to produce new vehicles. The UK company has highlighted that the Mamba is a well-proven and renowned design and that the vehicles fitted with the new hulls will be used for peacekeeping operations.

“This is an important order for MTL Group and it makes it even more special manufacturing such an iconic vehicle as the Mamba,” said MTL defence sales manager Simon Hurst. The new hulls are of improved design, reducing weight and cost but improving protection.

MTL stated that it won the contract because of its high-technology manufacturing capability, competitive pricing and its Design-for-Manufacture (DFM) service. DFM involves a dedicated MTL design team working with the client’s engineering and manufacturing departments to increase efficiency and reduce costs in the manufacturing process.

“The customer liked the idea that we wouldn’t just weld the product – rather, we would support and provide a DFM review that would enhance the product,” affirmed Hurst.

MTL undertakes armour plate processing, automated bending of armour and vehicle hull and cabin fabrication. It supplies ready-to-assemble armour kits or complex welded armoured structures – such as turrets or hulls – to clients in more than 35 countries.

Its armour is ultrahigh hard. The company also maintains a strategic stockpile of a wide range of armoured materials, to allow it to respond rapidly to customers with urgent requirements. Defence is one of six sectors in which MTL operates.

Panzer Technologies is a South African company focused on the paramilitary market and has exported vehicles to Angola, East Africa, Jordan, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates.

The company has a strategic alliance with Mechem (part of State-owned Denel Land Systems). It was Mechem that originally designed the Mamba.

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