BATTLESPACE Editor Julian Nettelfold was honoured to be hosted at the GDLS-UK Merthyr facility in January to join the Canny-Comms* party who kindly made the winning bid for the factory tour and AJAX ride and drive at the recent Chepstow Military Raceday, now in its 10th year during which time over £300,000 has been raised for SSAFA, Combat Stress and the Royal Hospital, Chelsea. GDLS-UK and DE&S contributed to the successful event which raised the record sum of £26,800 on November 8th 2023 by providing a tour of the Ajax factory in Merthyr Tydfil and a ride in an AJAX vehicle.
GDLS-UK has two principal sites in the UK at Merthyr Tydfil and Oakdale, employing 555 people in total with 338 at Merthyr Tydfil, of whom 150 are on the shop floor and 179 at Oakdale.
The fact that GDLS-UK was happy to open the facility to outside visitors and show off a live demonstration of AJAX was a sure sign of growing confidence in the Armoured Cavalry Programme.
Ajax is the Army’s new armoured fighting vehicle programme, the biggest single order for a UK armoured vehicle in more than 20 years and will replace the Army’s ageing fleet of tracked reconnaissance vehicles.
When will Ajax be in service?
On 20 March 2023 Alex Chalk, the Minister for Defence Procurement, set a new timeline for Ajax’s entry into service:
* Initial operating capability: Between July and December 2025
* Full operating capability: Between October 2028 and September 2029
When the programme began in 2010 the initial expectation was for it to enter service around 2017. This had shifted to 2020 when the manufacturing contract was awarded in 2014.
What is Ajax’s role in the Army?
The Army’s Future Soldier plan envisages Ajax as a core component of the Army’s future modernised warfighting division. It involves the creation of a fully modernised warfighting division by 2030 to address future threats. Part of the modernization drive is the deployment of Challenger 3 main battle tanks, Ajax armoured fighting vehicles, and Boxer armoured personnel carriers.
“While the last two years have been stressful for all of us, you have seen from the factory tour, production is powering ahead, we are ramping up to produce four vehicles a week of various Ajax types. A number of the concerns raised from user trials have now been resolved.” A GDLS-UK spokesman told BATTLESPACE.This view was reinforced by Scott Milne, Vice President and General Manager for UK Operations, General Dynamics Land Systems, “We are extremely proud to be producing this critical capability for the British Army here in South Wales and are excited about the next phase of the programme. Since we restarted Reliability Growth Trials with the British Army in 2023, we have successfully covered over 25,000kms in Battlefield Mission testing with the end user. 2024 will see significant progress for the programme as we continue to work jointly with the UK MoD to deliver and field vehicles to the British Army as we progress towards IOC.”
It was obvious on arrival at the Merthyr plant that production is ramping up, given the number of hulls waiting to enter the production process. General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) headquartered in Santa Barbara in Spain has completed 460 bare hulls, of which 152 have been assembled, integrated and tested in the UK with 44 of these completed vehicles having been delivered to the British Army for testing and trials.
The Army is buying 589 vehicles across all six variants, which include reconnaissance (AJAX), personnel carrier (ARES), command and control (ATHENA), engineer reconnaissance (ARGUS), and recovery and repair vehicles (ATLAS and APOLLO).
In a UK parliamentary written response on 17 January 2024, it was revealed that 152 Ajax vehicles had been built, representing just over 25% of the planned total fleet number. In addition, it was stated the latest standard of the vehicle, known as Capability Drop 3, the operational deployable variant, is under production and due to be delivered to the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Initial Operating Capability is planned to be achieved between July and December 2025, delivering a trained and deployable squadron that can be sustained on operations for up to six months. This includes 50 vehicles, 27 used by a deployable squadron, with the remaining 23 utilised by the British Army for crew and maintainer training.
Overseas cold weather firing trials for 2024
The early stages of 2024 has seen Ajax undertake Live Crew Clearance Cold Climate Trials in Sweden, the first time the vehicle was fired on the move with British Army personnel outside of the UK.
Factory Tour
The Canny Comms Team along with BATTLESPACE Editor Julian Nettelfold were hosted by the GDLS-UK team.
There are four build lines in the factory segregated into 10 Static Build Stations carrying out the computer-controlled build process to deliver the finished vehicles to the Joint Acceptance Group (JAG) run jointly by the Army and GDLS. The parts are pre-painted and receive a final finish at the end of the process. GDLS is currently ramping up to produce 4 vehicles a week of various Ajax types. The JAG process takes place prior to delivery to the British Army user. GDLS-UK has installed a Smart Factory solution that enables real-time integration between the design team and the production shopfloor staff.
The current Build Standard is Capability Drop 3, the operational deployable variant. These vehicles will be delivered to the Trials Units to replace the Capability Drop 1 vehicles. A total of 1313 Requirements have been thoroughly tested and analysed prior to Acceptance in a rigorous DE&S Testing and Trials process.
Ajax Weapon and Sighting Systems Upgrades
(Photo: Lockheed Martin UK)
BATTLESPACE readers have seen the extensive coverage devoted to the Ajax turret, canon and sighting systems going back many years, so it was a welcome bonus for us to not only see the system in the flesh but also receive an update on the systems.
Linked to the Ajax Fire Control and Bowman BCIP 5.6 communications system, the enhanced sighting system gives Ajax a unique 360 degree 24/7 target location capability. Once the target has been detected (automatically or manually) and has been identified, it can be tracked automatically and, if required, engaged by either the Commander or the Gunner. Should the Commander decide not to engage the target, it can be handed over to another Ajax vehicle via the Bowman system. The sighting system can track multiple targets which can be stored or engaged using the CTAI 40mm canon.
The MoD envisages three Ajax vehicles operating in a defensive mode, with three Challenger 3 and Boxer vehicles. The addition of an Overwatch missile equipped vehicle, such as Ajax or Boxer, is under discussion.
CTAI 40mm Canon
Our readers have been aware of the concerns raised by the reported problems with the ability of the CT40 canon to engage targets on-the-move and at speed. The DE&S Spokesman told the Editor that the following Live Firing Trials have been undertaken using over 15,000 rounds of various natures in all engagement scenarios:
- Static to static
- Static to moving
- Moving to static
- Moving to moving
Ajax Ride & Drive
The Editor was taken on a Ride & Drive demonstration in the Ajax Capability Drop 3 variant equipped with Urban Camouflage. Having ridden in a variety of vehicles it became clear that rather than be subjected to a rough ride accompanied by a headset unable to communicate with the Commander, the result was the opposite. The ride included going over the Knife Edge and the tarmacked test track at speed. The Editor communicated at ease with the Commander and suffered no vibration issues at all.
Foxhound
GDLS-UK also briefed the Editor on their plans for a Foxhound Mk2. There are currently 400 Foxhound Mk1 vehicles in service. The MoD has a requirement to convert 37 of them to a Command and Control variant. GDLS is hopeful to restart Foxhound production in the coming years.
Oakdale
Following the Merthyr demonstration, the Editor was taken for a tour of the Oakdale Software Integration Laboratory (SIL).
Given the sensitivity of the advanced systems installed at Oakdale, it is no surprise that GDLS-UK has had to keep the lid on what goes on at the SIL to the general public, for obvious reasons. Had GDLS-UK been able to open-up the SIL to general viewing, I have little doubt that the naysayers and doom merchants surrounding the demise of Ajax would have been silenced. Ajax is more than an armoured vehicle, it is a high-tech defence node with the ability to detect, track and destroy multiple targets at long ranges.
The SIL has modelled the complete systems integration onboard Ajax into one facility where comprehensive testing and changes of all the individual systems can be modelled, tested and altered on a multi databus ‘Plug and Play’ backbone which allows new and alternative systems to be tested for integration into the existing open architecture backbone using the MoD’s GVA standard. Any alterations can then be tested on an actual Ajax vehicle in the facility and transferred direct to the Production Line at Merthyr.
An adjacent facility houses the Bowman SIL, where all the required BCIP development and testing was carried out to bring Bowman up to the BCIP 5.6 standard. The Bowman SIL is linked to the Ajax SIL to carry out target ID handover testing on multiple Ajax vehicles.
GDUK is in discussions with the MoD to open both SILs to other systems and vehicle suppliers in order to develop a common standard of seamless software right across the UK MoD’s vehicle fleet and any interested NATO country.
Certainly, by the time the Editor left the tour of both plants in Merthyr and Oakdale, we can state with complete confidence that the Ajax Programme is alive and well and progressing to an IoC of 2025.
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