Bridport: Duke of Kent visits innovative firm to give it a royal seal of approval (From Bridport and Lyme Regis News)
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Bridport: Duke of Kent visits innovative firm to give it a royal seal of approval
10:00am Wednesday 31st October 2012 in News By James Tourgout
HONOUR: Mrs Anthony Pitt-Rivers, the Duke of Kent and AmSafe president Ian Kentfield Picture: MARY ANN GRIFFITHS LTD
THE royal seal of approval was given to a Bridport firm when the Duke of Kent visited to present an honour.
He made a special trip to Amsafe in West Street to present the company with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation.
It was announced in April that the hi-tech business had scooped the title for its design and development of the Tarian armoured netting system.
The Duke toured the premises and met staff during his visit to present a crystal bowl and scroll to Amsafe president Ian Kentfield.
He was accompanied by the Lord Lieutenant of Dorset, Mrs Anthony Pitt-Rivers.
Neal McKeever, sales and marketing director at AmSafe Bridport Ltd, said: “AmSafe Bridport is proud and honoured to be a recipient of a Queen’s Award of innovation for the development of its unique Tarian RPG protection technology.
“The culmination of seven years of co-development with the UK Ministry of Defence, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Tarian is becoming globally established as the best performing, lightest and most robust solution for protecting vehicles against rocket propelled grenade attacks.”
Tarian protects armoured military vehicles against rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attacks.
It was developed in response to a requirement from the military for a lightweight, higher performance and more robust alternative to traditional, heavy, metal bar armour RPG protection systems.
The core element of the Tarian shield is an extremely strong textile net.
The nets are attached to vehicles using innovative flexible mounts that enable the system to withstand harsh vehicle operating conditions without sustaining damage.
Tarian has been deployed and proven in Afghanistan since May 2009, and its QuickShield bar armour repair kits, fitted to vehicles to replace damaged bar armour since April, 2011.
