21 Dec 22. Ajax armoured vehicles complete successful trials reports Forces.net. User validation trials for the Ajax armoured vehicles have been successfully completed, according to the Ministry of Defence (MOD). Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has “reaffirmed the department’s commitment to the Ajax contract” after meeting with the General Dynamics Corporation CEO Phebe Novakovic and President of Land Systems Danny Deep. General Dynamics UK was contracted to supply the British Army with 589 Ajax vehicles – they were originally due to enter service in 2017 but the troubled programme is now more than five years behind schedule. The most recent MOD update added that the “vehicles have been tested across 1,530km at speeds up to 60kmph”. After these trials, the vehicle testing programme is set to progress to the “Reliability Growth Trials”.
A former top brass recently branded the Ajax project “a complete and utter disaster”.
The project intended to provide a state-of-the-art fighting vehicle for the Army, but after running for 12 years and costing £3.2bn it has failed to deliver a single deployable vehicle. Originally intended to enter service in 2017, it has been repeatedly delayed, with problems including noise and vibration issues which injured soldiers testing the vehicles. The Ministry of Defence agreed on a fixed-price contract with General Dynamics for 589 Ajax armoured vehicles, but just 26 have been delivered and can only be used for training. In March, it was reported that problems with the Army’s troubled Ajax vehicle programme are so deep-rooted that they may never be resolved, a Whitehall spending watchdog has warned. (Source: forces.net)
BATTLESPACE Comment: It is now certain that, despite the views of some pundits, Ajax has survived with better headphones and stronger seating to absorb the vibration and noise issues. This of course doesn’t solve the noise and vibration issues but makes them liveable with for the crews. The Reliability Growth Trials will be the big test, particularly the ability of the vehicle to fire on the move and get a first round hit on the move (at speed). However, as Ben Wallace, the MoD, Army, DE&S and GDUK breathe a sigh of relief and get on to the RGT, they are left with a one canon, one nature of non-NATO standard CT-40 ammunition on the battlefield at a time when Ukraine is showing that logistic ammunition supply is key to operational tempo using common calibres across the battlefield. When the UK fights the next coalition war and the French Army is not involved, I would not like to be that Quartermaster who won’t be able to ‘borrow’ stocks to keep the fleet supplied and on the move.