“Astute has evolved shoulder to shoulder with our oldest Defence clients, supporting them whatever their needs. We’re immensely proud to have taken this journey together, gaining their trust, confidence, and endorsements on the way.” - Freddie Roe, Director of Defence & 3PL, Astute

Astute is supporting supply chains and technology innovation within many of the largest multilateral Defence programmes such as GCAP, Boxer, Type 26 and 31, along with historical programmes such as Eurofighter Typhoon, MSSP, FLAADS, Morpheus, AJAX, and FCIC among others. 

A highly regarded Defence sector specialist, Astute provide commodity sourcing and procurement services, 3PL (Third Party Logistics), and technology design expertise with direct support from their franchised electronics manufacturers. 

SHOULDER TO SHOULDER GLOBAL SUPPORT

Astute’s three core values – Passion, Innovation & Focus – has driven the company to ever-increasing levels of support as well as many new locations. 

Astute has an expanding global footprint with wholly owned subsidiaries in the US, Germany, Turkey, Australia, India, Israel, central Europe, and China, all supported by their UK HQ, and they’re set to continue that progression with a new office in Sweden. 

Freddie says, “As a truly global company, we have a much stronger platform to support global Defence primes with technology design, global sourcing, and material availability around the world, as well as potential manufacturing solutions through 3PL.”

SUPPORTING PROGRAMMES ACROSS LAND, SEA, AIR

GCAP Astute engages directly with every Prime and sub-tier; one of the few Design/Supply partners allowed to use the Tempest logo.

BOXER Astute provides kitting and 3PL services for box-build management, cable harnesses, and component-level material supply.

GCS Astute directly supports BAE Systems Maritime for Type 26 as well as Babcock, Thales, and L3 on a variety of platforms.

A REMARKABLE 200 YEARS EXPERIENCE

An incredible fact about Astute: their eight longest serving directors and managers have a combined 200 years’ experience in the sector. 

Astute’s Freddie Roe says their long staff retention rate bodes well for military and Defence projects. “We’ve been with many customers since the beginning. We were awarded a coveted Leonardo Service Excellence Award and we’re among only a handful of companies with permission to use the approved-supplier logo for Tempest, which is part of the GCAP Global Combat Air Programme.  

Astute is also a respected advocate within the MoD’s Counterfeit Avoidance Working Group (CAWG), and a member of ADS, moreover one of the only Defence distributors to gain AS6081 accreditation across multiple locations - UK, US, and Germany.

DESIGN. FULFILMENT. SUPPORT

Astute’s model of long-term engagement with Defence clients pivots around three service axes: design, fulfilment, and support.

>DESIGN: Astute provides electronics engineering support from a range of franchised manufacturers, modifying and adapting their components for specific uses, and supporting Defence projects throughout their design, evolution, and next-gen cycles.

“Early involvement drives us forward. We bring in our design teams and engineers, along with direct expertise from the manufacturers that we are authorised to represent,” says Freddie. “Suddenly, you have a much larger pool of skilled electronics designers to input into the technology roadmap.”

>FULFILMENT: Astute’s global sourcing experts supply fully-traceable components to ensure material supply continuity whatever the market conditions.

“Defence customers need solutions, service, material management, and global reach. There’s a huge growth in commodity supply across every type of category. Electronics remain our core, but within the Defence sector the commodity might be a semiconductor, a harness, or even a full sub-system,” says Freddie.

>SUPPORT: Astute’s bespoke project support services offer solutions for traceability, counterfeit avoidance, and obsolescence management. 

Astute was the first European distributor to attain the AS6081 standard to mitigate the risk of buying, receiving and selling fraudulent/counterfeit parts, and remains one of the only distributors with AS6081 accreditations across both sides of the Atlantic.

“No company can avoid obsolescence issues. We look at how to risk-manage procurement and how to mitigate risk through design. We monitor component obsolescence to ensure customers don’t miss Last Time Buy’ opportunities, and where necessary provide long-term nitrogen storage for critical components.” 

ASTUTE 3PL

Astute 3PL is a consultative CSCS (Complex Supply Chain Solutions) division within Astute group, focussed on delivering the customer a bespoke solution to managed services and offer the best in class support during the build phase of product and equipment. This may include optimised supply chains and deliveries across multi-site locations, on-site support and quality compliance, stock-level checking, direct-line feeds, kitting, and box-builds among other services.  

SPEARHEADING ESG 

It’s noted that businesses with high Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performances have lower risk exposure and higher ROI, and are believed to be more resilient during disruptions. 

Astute has chosen to take a lead by working with customers on sustainability planning and how best to report the key sets of environmental, social, sustainability, and governance metrics.

EXHIBITING AROUND THE WORLD

Talk to Astute at these exhibitions

• Paris Air Show, 19-25 June
• DSEI, 12-15 Sept 
• MSPO, 5-8 Sept 
• Indo Pacific, 7-9 Nov

Freddie Roe, Director of Defence & 3PL, Astute