House of Commons and House of Lords Hansard Written Answers
Armoured Cavalry Programme: Ajax Update
Statement made on 20 October 2022
Statement UIN HCWS332
Statement made by Alec Shelbrooke
Minister of State for Defence Procurement
Conservative
Elmet and Rothwell
Commons
Statement
I wish to provide an update on the Ajax equipment project that is part of the Armoured Cavalry Programme.
My first concern is the safety of our personnel, which has been at the forefront of the work that has been ongoing over the summer. I am pleased to be able to inform the House that, following agreement from the Ajax Safety Panel, this work has led to resuming the User Validation Trials paused earlier this year and since Monday 10th October there have been eight days of trials.
Successful completion of User Validation Trials will allow progression toward Reliability Growth Trials.
I will continue to ensure that the House is kept updated on these matters.
Forces.net reported today that Ajax trials resume following safety concerns over noise and vibrations. Minister confirms eight days of trials on troubled Ajax have taken place this month. Trials of the Ajax light tank have resumed after tests were halted again earlier this year over noise and vibration issues.
A minister previously said that the Ministry of Defence “cannot determine a realistic” timescale for the introduction of the armoured vehicle into operational service.
Alec Shelbrooke, Minister of State for Defence Procurement, has now said, in a written statement to Parliament, that User Validation Trials, which aimed to test modifications to address a number of noise and vibration problems that left dozens of troops needing urgent hearing assessments after taking part in earlier trials of the vehicles, had now resumed.
He said there had been eight days of trials so far since Monday, 10 October.
Ministers publicly acknowledged last year that the programme was in trouble and have been making regular updates to Parliament on the situation.
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 four years behind schedule.
General Dynamics UK has received more than £3bn and, as of June this year, only 26 vehicles had been delivered.
In his written statement, Mr Shelbrooke said: “I wish to provide an update on the Ajax equipment project that is part of the Armoured Cavalry Programme. My first concern is the safety of our personnel, which has been at the forefront of the work that has been ongoing over the summer. I am pleased to be able to inform the House that, following agreement from the Ajax Safety Panel, this work has led to resuming the User Validation Trials paused earlier this year and since Monday 10 October there have been eight days of trials. Successful completion of User Validation Trials will allow progression toward Reliability Growth Trials. I will continue to ensure that the House is kept updated on these matters,” he added.
User Validation Trials aim to establish the effectiveness of the modifications to address the noise and vibration problems so that troops could work safely under the next stage of testing.
The aim of the next stage of testing under Reliability Growth Trials is to test the vehicles over an extended period to ensure the Ajax meets the Army’s contractual requirements.
The Defence Procurement Minister yesterday said that a decision on the troubled Ajax programme would be made by the end of the year.
In an earlier response to a written question for the MOD, Mr Shelbrooke said the department was working with manufacturer General Dynamics to “resolve the challenges” on Ajax.
He added that work was being done to “validate the effectiveness of proposed modifications” to address the issues with noise and vibration “in line with the contract”.
He added: “We expect to be in a position to consider the way forward for the programme by the end of the year. The Ministry of Defence will not accept a vehicle until it can be used safely for its intended purpose.”
In June this year, Jeremy Quin, who was the then Minister for Defence Procurement before he was appointed to the Home Office in September, revealed how trials had been paused for a third time in May this year after what he described as “transient subtle anomalies” were detected during checks on the hearing of service personnel.
He said the hearing of all individuals concerned returned to their pre-existing recorded levels and added that the transient anomalies detected were being followed up by the Army, supported by the Surgeon General, working with external experts to understand their significance.
(Source: forces.net)