Behind the Scenes of Galvion’s Expansion

During DSEI 2023, MilTech had the opportunity to interview Peter Rafferty, Chief of Staff Galvion Inc. and President Galvion UK Limited. As Chief of Staff, Peter is responsible for Corporate Affairs, Governance and Compliance.

As President, UK – Galvion, he oversees and manages contracts in the UK and Europe. Between 2020 and 2023, as President of the Armor Business Unit, Peter oversaw the expansion of Galvion helmet production in North America and elsewhere.

Galvion’s operations in Europe are expanding due to rising demand for helmets and other equipment, but also because of the company’s growing strategy, based on high-quality products and a close relationship with end users.

MT: What are you presenting at this year’s DSEI exhibition?
Peter Rafferty: In the helmet business line, we are showcasing a range of our more advanced helmet systems that are largely in service in the European region and represent the bulk of our major customer demand.

We’re also demonstrating some of our integrated helmet offerings in terms of scalable power, other accessories such as strobes and receivers, and the ability to integrate night vision systems and power devices.

Regarding the power electronics business line, we display a full range of active systems, including various man-worn power and data systems. Our power distribution, storage and charging systems are in service military operators, especially in the US.

Nonetheless, the main thrust of our DSEI experience this year has been a consequence of our recently unveiled global expansion strategy. In terms of our manufacturing capacity, we’ve been busily expanding our capacity in our North American factories.

In Europe, we are opening a new facility in Poland and – as we announced last week – we are also expanding our productions through collaboration with partners, such as the recently announced collaboration with NP Aerospace to establish a UK helmet production hub.

These moves are the consequence of our success in the last two years, as the demand for our products has grown by orders of magnitude. We estimate that by late 2025, as many as 1.5 million helmets will be in service in Europe. Our new facility in Poland will represent a key asset to manufacture not only helmets but also provision spare parts, and will also support refurbishment and upgrade programmes expected in Scandinavia and Northern Europe – all this without having to send equipment back to our US facilities.

MT: How do you maintain your technology edge over competitors?
Peter Rafferty: I think that Galvion’s intimacy with customer needs is well understood by end users. We are proud to work very closely with our customer base. Many of the products we’re showing here benefited from close collaboration with the armies and servicemen who wear them. We have regular interaction with them and get regular feedback to improve products on a rolling basis.

We also make sure that we are up to date with the most advanced materials to provide the highest performance, highest comfort, and highest capability.

Another key element to remain competitive is the vision to anticipate future needs, such as introducing scalable power devices and the possibility of integrating other soldier equipment. The demand for these kinds of capabilities is growing in our domestic markets as well as worldwide, and we are able to respond.

MT: How do you keep pace in times of extremely fast innovation cycles?
Peter Rafferty: Base technology is continually evolving as new materials are developed, and this triggers new developments also in processing.

The main driver for us is the continued research for advanced materials to bring the weight of the helmet systems down consistently. The more capability we can bring to the head system without negatively impacting the weight, the better for the warfighter. Today’s individual soldiers need to integrate several tool sets and capabilities, such as the possibility to drive drones, communicate with multiple echelons, and receive information from manned and unmanned assets. And that has been driving considerably our work in terms of integrating power, edge computing and data dissemination, both from the head system and the torso system.

In addition, we are evolving our manufacturing processes all the time, looking for higher efficiency. To improve those product performances and productivity, we are continually investing millions of dollars in new production equipment and processes that allow for smooth and effective production. In terms of efficiency, we are also very proud to evolve our manufacturing techniques to increasingly reduce waste and ensure we can recycle any waste material. This has the beneficial effect of reducing our environmental impact, which is also a nice result.

Galvion’s helmets are based on in-house technology on materials and design and take into great consideration the feedback from end users. (Mönch / Marco Barone)

 Marco Giulio Barone (Editor-in-Chief, MilTech)