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8th April 2008
No more hot dogs on the front line
Specially made air-conditioned kennels have been delivered to Iraq and Afghanistan to replace the current accommodation being used by British Forces' working dogs. The £1.2M contract has been delivered by Expeditionary Campaign Infrastructure Integrated Project Team (ECI IPT) part of the Battlefield Infrastructure and Engineering Group who will be using DVD as its annual stakeholder day in June.
The 17 accommodation units are supplied complete with heating and cooling systems to control the sleeping areas for the dogs, helping to ensure that they remain in peak condition despite their challenging working environments. The highly trained dogs are used by the military to protect bases and detect arms, ammunition and explosives.
Although the dogs are extremely fit and acclimatised to the strenuous conditions, the use of air conditioning means their kennels can be controlled to maintain a steady temperature throughout each day of their tour. "Returning to such kennels, often after demanding and protracted tasks, helps to maintain the dog's condition,” explains Warrant Officer Sean Jones of the Dog Support Unit in Afghanistan.
The kennels are DROPS compatible 20ft ISO containers that each house four service dogs. They convert into housing units through the assembly of panels, which provide internal sleeping areas, external kennel areas, feeding preparation and storage with integral water and electrical distribution.
"This was an innovative project which presented a number of difficult technical challenges,” explains Derek Ford, project manager for G3 Systems, who delivered the kennels as a subcontractor. "As well as being a self-contained unit with all equipment designed to fit inside the container, we also had to ensure that no hand tools were needed in the deployment and construction of the shelters. We are pleased that we met all the technical requirements of the customers within an extremely tight timescale for this Urgent Operational Requirement.”
Members of G3 Systems and the Battlefield Infrastructure and Engineering Group responsible for delivering the new accommodation to theatre will be at DVD on 25th and 26th June at Millbrook. Visitors wishing to attend DVD must pre-register by visiting www.theevent.co.uk.
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