Deployable CT scanners in service with three armed forces including the UK’s have led to Land Systems, part of Cambridge based Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group, being awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2013 in the Innovation category, the company announces.
The Innovation Award also includes the company’s work designing a deployable forensic laboratory fitted into one shelter to conduct DNA and clean room forensic analysis. The facility and process started life housed in a permanent building, Land Systems then developed a three shelter system which then led to the development of the single shelter.
Ray Cutting, Managing Director of Land Systems, Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group, says: “This award demonstrates Marshall’s unrivalled expertise in developing complex deployable solutions to problems previously thought to be too difficult.
“In both cases we worked very closely with the customer and our partners to create a solution which is deployable over very rugged ground and gets the facility to where it is needed to provide real benefits for the forces on the ground, be they military, security or humanitarian,” he added.
The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Innovation category requires companies to demonstrate innovation and improvements in performance and commercial success over the last two years. Achievement is assessed for invention, design or production, the performance of the product submitted, marketing and distribution, and after sales support.
“This award is testament to the capabilities of our engineers and project managers to work together with our customers and partners to develop solutions which can have a life changing effect. I am extremely proud of their work and congratulate them on this award which is richly deserved,” says Steve Fitz-Gerald, CEO, Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group.
Historically, CT scanner units have not been available to medical teams working within hostile zones. The Marshall unit can be transported by sea, rail or on the back of a truck and when it arrives it can be set up by two people and carrying out its first scan within two hours. During transportation the Philips CT Scanner is protected from shocks and vibrations using a patented system developed by Marshall’s engineers.
The deployable forensic laboratory, which can be up and running within minutes of arrival, has taken all the critical elements to enable forensic agencies to carry out DNA investigation of buccal swab, blood, hair, tissue and contact trace material to provide investigating officers and intelligence services with information to carry out their roles more quickly and whilst the scene is still “live”. Integral to the design of the unit is maintaining the internal environment to ensure that none of the collected evidence is contaminated.
An animated video of the CT Scanner being deployed is available here
