Barum & Dewar is thrilled to announce that they have been awarded a single delivery contract from Belgian company, Aerospacelab. 

Aerospacelab is one of the leading European businesses specialising in Geospatial intelligence and small satellite platforms. Their new project, The PROBA-V Cubesat, a small, low-cost satellite is part of a 12-unit mission that will provide vegetation monitoring of the entire world’s plant growth.

With a launch date scheduled for late 2021, Aerospacelab were looking for a partner to design and supply a suitable transit and storage container to accommodate the PROBA-V companion CubeSat during trials and final delivery to the launch site. Due to the nature of the equipment, the brief from the client had various other conditions that had to be met in order for the solution to be suitable. The other requirements were that the container must protect the delicate equipment from shock, vibration, environmental issues and be suitable for use within ISO 5 cleanroom conditions. In addition, the container is required to allow nitrogen purging.

Having previously provided a solution for a similar challenge to another client, Qinetiq, the Barum & Dewar team was chosen to deliver the contract. By drawing upon the success of a previous field proven solution, B&D was able to offer the client a fast response and a reduced risk solution.

What makes Barum & Dewar's methodology so unique when delivering projects is the partnership philosophy with clients and suppliers that ensures a full engagement with all parties throughout and this project is certainly no different. The design will utilise an aluminium container from partner supplier, Zarges’s K475 range which provided certified environmental approvals. This also provides a perfect base into which all other features could be incorporated. Shock and vibration requirements were dealt with through the selection of high-performance wire rope isolation mounts from partners, Socitec, which were integrated into design of the container and fitted to a bespoke interface plate. Clamping system, auto PRV, humidity indicator, purge valves, full paint and labelling were all added.

Managing Director of B&D, David Frame, commented, “This is a new client for B&D and our first order from them. As part of our overarching business strategy, we had set a goal to widen our client base in Central Europe, with Belgium being a key target location so we are delighted to have this contract signed off with our new customer. The space sector is a market we actively target at B&D as we look to diversify our portfolio across Europe, having previously delivered successful projects to space clients in Belgium and other parts of the world. We have one other existing Belgian client, so we are delighted to now include Aerospacelab as another key client in the country and the team are looking forward to successful project delivery and making further connections.”

With the new digital way of working, Barum & Dewar has found that working with clients in other parts of the world have been no different than working with the UK based clients. Drawings were shared online with the client for approval and meetings were able to progress through digital communication channels, resulting in a quick turnaround and having all aspects of the design and development fully controlled in-house by B&D’s technical design team ensured the speed of response on a short lead-time was met. The client confidence provided by B&D through the proposed fully detailed, costed and scheduled solution which enabled the client to commit quickly to the contract which has been a great step forward for Barum & Dewar in their European business development plans. 

Barum & Dewar is delighted to confirm a successful design contract win for AST & Science’s latest project, Blue Walker 3.

Based in Texas, AST & Science is a satellite communications company who are building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network to be accessible by standard smartphones. This exciting project will allow regular smartphones to access “SpaceMobile” which will connect users to an ultra-fast and powerful 4G/5G network, everywhere on the planet, meaning that no matter if users are based on land, sea or on a flight, they will be able to enjoy uninterrupted access.

The first step in the project was to find a trusted partner that could deliver protective storage and transport solutions. The project team contacted Barum & Dewar as they were on an incredibly tight timeframe for this project to be delivered and they knew with B&D’s level of experience, a quick turnaround could be achieved.

With the project already underway, the team decided to split the project into two phases, design and manufacture, awarding Barum & Dewar the design phase. Drawing on the extensive knowledge of the space sector, the B&D team quickly assessed the requirements and articulated a proposed design concept to AST. The use of the latest 3D CAD and virtual online meeting capability further increased the ability to commit to a tight turnaround. This fast response and a clear idea of the solution required provided the client with the confidence that Barum & Dewar was the correct choice to make their trusted partner which allowed the client to redeploy their team and focus on other tasks.

The solution provided was a design concept based around B&D’s field proven DELTA^® container range. Client approval was given quickly, and a design phase contract was placed.

Over the coming weeks Barum & Dewar’s experienced design team will oversee shock and vibration analysis and mount selection as well as modelling and determining interface arrangements between container and satellite. The container will require manual handling features, a complete labelling package, modelling and client approval ahead of production sign off.

David Frame, Managing Director commented, “Having all aspects of the design and development fully controlled in-house by Barum & Dewar’s technical design team will ensure that the short lead-time is adhered to and our level of responsiveness will be a huge benefit to overall project delivery. The partnership philosophy that B&D have implemented throughout the business over the years will ensure client engagement throughout the process helping develop a great relationship, built on trust, expertise and confidence.”

The B&D team are looking forward to completing their phase of the overall ground-breaking project.

Barum & Dewar is pleased to announce the appointment of Simon George, Director of 5C Consulting Ltd, as a Specialist Business Winning Advisor for the Defence Sector. The experienced campaigner will now support our further growth, building on our success and heritage in the sector over the last 20 years.

With extensive experience in Defence, Simon’s 18 year military career culminated in senior procurement roles before his transition to industry in 2008 with senior business development roles at BAE Systems and Drumgrange Ltd.

Barum & Dewar Managing Director, David Frame, said, “A previous client of Barum & Dewar, Simon has a deep understanding of our business, how we work, our values and the service we provide for our customers. Looking to the future we see the further digital transformation of defence forces giving rise to many new opportunities and together with our extensive expertise internally at Barum & Dewar, Simon will provide focus and direction to allow us to capitalise on this.”

Simon George, commented, “Barum & Dewar’s track record in the critical Packaging, Handling, Storage and Transportation domain for defence programmes is second to none. It was an honour to be invited onto the team to see how we can further capitalise on the successes of their current contracts and build better and long-lasting strategic partnerships across the MoD and Industry.”

In order to develop improved weather forecasting across Europe the European Space Agency (ESA) is managing the procurement of six Meteosat Third generation (MTG) satellites due for launch into space starting 2021.

Of the six satellites, four will provide imagery with a much higher resolution to what is currently available whilst the remaining two will use complex imaging spectrometers to provide information on the distribution and flow of vapour and temperature in the middle part of the atmosphere.As a result, MTG will enable earlier warning of large-scale thunderstorms and intensive rainfall, it will allow more accurate and economic planning of air travel and rescue operations and it will enable farmers to achieve higher yields.

Barum & Dewar are responsible for the design and manufacture of specialist containers to be used to safely transport and store blackbody targets used for the calibration of instruments on both types of MTG satellites.The blackbody targets require very accurate thermal control, based on a liquid nitrogen jacket, a helium gas gap and electric heaters. These, together with associated electronics, controls, tooling, flanges, harnesses, and cryogenic supply systems and their ancillary pipework, form the Optical Ground System Equipment (OGSE).The OGSEs will be transported from STFC and will be intermittently in use and in storage over a 20 year timespan.

This latest contract follows a similar earlier one which was successfully delivered in 2019. Once again B&D’s bespoke DELTA^®style of containers will be the foundation for this second phase with delivery scheduled for mid-2020. These innovative containers constructed from aluminium honeycomb with an extruded aluminium frame are fitted with a shock mounted inner frame providing a robust yet lightweight solution.

Further information is available from our website www.barumanddewar.com

Barum & Dewar (B&D), the UK based specialist packaging company, has been awarded a contract from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to design and deliver a wide range of specialist packaging solutions in support of the New Style of IT (Deployed) Projects (NSoIT(D)).

NSoIT Deployed is the MoD designed and owned deployable communications and information system for UK and multinational military missions intended to rapidly deliver improved capability to the frontline and ensure that operational mission services work in a single information environment

The five year contract for hardware containerisation begins with immediate effect and includes the design, development and manufacture of ruggedised transit cases, 19” rack style cases and associated ancillary products.

B&D will undertake all design and development work at its modern facilities in North Devon whilst manufacturing will be undertaken at several sites within the UK including B&D’s dedicated foam fabrication facility at Southampton.

David Frame, Managing Director, B&D commented: “We are delighted to be able to work with the UK MoD on this challenging and exciting project. B&D have 20+ years’ experience in developing innovative deployable packaging solutions for the defence sector and this contract recognises the work of our dedicated team in this specialist area.”

Barum & Dewar is a leading UK manufacturer of complete packaging solutions to the Defence, Subsea, Industrial, Instrumentation, Space and Aerospace sectors.

Further information is available at www.barumanddewar.com