From the car park to the front line

More than a quarter of a million square metres of storage is available to the British armed forces at Ashchurch, close to the M5, the home of the Defence Storage and Distribution Agency's vehicle store. From vehicles with an offensive capability – Challenger II tanks and AS90 self-propelled guns – to patrol Land Rovers and light support vehicles, many of the Army's massive inventory of trucks and tanks has at some stage seen the inside and outside of the Ashchurch site.

"We are the only vehicle storage depot of this type," said Jane Stachel, general manager of the Ashchurch operation. "And although the site looks very big it is, in fact, very compact. We have no spare space at all."

Almost every spare metre is taken up with storage of one vehicle or another. Those that are passing through, either to the front line or back to manufacturers for modifications being made ready for repair or disposal can be found filling up the huge covered storage sheds or the increasingly full open areas in between.

Many that are at Ashchurch for storage for a few months or more are kept in one of five controlled humidity environment stores where temperature and humidity are tightly controlled. Vehicles left outside for long periods need constant maintenance or will degrade. Those in the controlled environment will not.

Elsewhere, the site contains a paint shop and spray booth where vehicles can have their surface paint either renewed or changed for whichever operational environment they are destined for.

There are complete equipment schedule stores for the whole range of kit which each vehicle comes with, and workshops, servicing and maintenance bays where vehicles are made ready for front-line duty or face second-line servicing and repair. It's a tough job and a busy time for the agency's 16 military and 180 civilian staff at Ashchurch.

"It's manic at the moment," said Jane. "Standing on the sidelines you have never seen it so busy from early morning to late at night with work at weekends too.

"The workforce are very can-do in their attitude, particularly as we have been reducing staffing numbers over the last year from the future supply chain initiative. The knock-on effect of that is that we have had commodities that we have not been used to storing and staff have had to adapt and there are much more vehicle movements around the site now. Our core business is increasing."

Jeff Trelfa, technical services business stream manager, agreed:

"Our primary function is to supply the right equipment at the right time and in the right place. Everything else which is a routine job goes by the wayside and has to be caught up with later."

Against this background, staff are achieving faster delivery times and are a more efficient service supporting unprecedented numbers of military operations. An increasing number of urgent operational requirements on support vehicles has seen Vector (the up-armoured Pinzgauer), Bulldog (a version of the FV430), Tellar ( the new Explosive Ordnance Disposal vehicle) and Mastiff come through Ashchurch recently as the forces' armoured vehicle capability has taken a major leap forward.

The first of the new Panthers are expected in due course and the initial tranche of 7,500 MAn ERF future cargo vehicles – a seven-year programme – are already at Ashchurch on their way into service:

"Thanks to the flexibility of the staff here, we have met every operational requirement we have been given," said Jeff proudly.

Many vehicles arrive and leave Ashchurch by train at the site's rail depot, with vehicles smaller than Challenger II being placed on flatbed wagons bound for the military port at Marchwood. Challengers leave by road transport, normally accompanied by a police escort.

The site is also home to other MOD units including staff of the Bowman and Tactical Communications and Information Systems IPT and the MOD police. There are also around 550 staff of private companies who rent parts of the site and provide valuable income.

Controlled humidity for a longer life

The huge controlled humidity environment stores at Ashchurch help prolong the life of all vehicles at a massively reduced cost – and it's all thanks to the Swedes.

The five storage areas currently hold hundreds of vehicles from motorcycles to Challenger II main battle tanks. All are kept at between 30 and 50 per cent humidity, much lower than outside, which preserves their moving parts and means fuels and lubricants do not degrade. It prolongs the life of the vehicle and cuts down hugely on the cost of spare parts and maintenance:

"The cost of damage to oil and filters can be astronomical," said Andy Hirst, deputy manager of the theatre fleet support unit.

"On some vehicles simple maintenance can last eight or 10 hours at a cost of £15 an hour plus parts and lubricants. There's soona bill of £500. Now, in this environment, vehicles can be stored for a couple of years, there's no degradation of parts at all.

"We take the moisture out of the air with dehumidifiers and circulate dry air throughout the shed. We keep the relative humidity at the levels we do because there's no degrading at those levels. Going lower, to around 20 per cent we found it perishes the rubber on the tyres."

With nearly one third of the British Army's Challenger II fleet in storage at Ashchurch it is a vital facility. And it's an idea pioneered by the Swedish armed forces, refined by DSDA to put the infrastructure in place along with training staff to understand and implement it in the best possible way for long-term cost savings.

"The idea has been around for years. The Swedes developed it and they have been very helpful to us with technical and practical advice," said Andy.

All exposed parts are open to the rarified atmosphere of the store so there's no effect from the condensation which would be very damaging to a vehicle left outside for a long time:

"It's a perfect environment for your classic car," added Andy. "But we can do nothing about rust. If a vehicle comes in here with rust, it's going out with rust!"

ASHCHURCH FACTFILE

• 272,000 sq metres covered storage in total.
• 47,000 sq metres external storage.
• 47,000 sq metres controlled humidity environment storage.
• 5,000 sq metres rail loading area
• 10-12,000 vehicles to be stored (dependent on size)
• 5.6km of perimeter fence
• 12km of road, including armoured road

This report by Steve Moore appears in the August 2007 issue of Preview - the magazine for Defence Equipment and Support.