Ajax: The British Army’s troubled armoured vehicle programme

Ajax is the Army’s new armoured fighting vehicle programme. Costing £5.5 billion, it is 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. The vehicles are assembled at prime contractor General Dynamics’s facility in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales.

However, the vehicle’s entry into service has been repeatedly delayed and the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) management of the programme criticised by the National Audit Office, the Defence select committee and the Public Accounts committee. In March 2023, the Minister for Defence Procurement announced a new in-service date of 2025, with full operating capability expected between late 2028 and 2029.

The Defence Secretary has described the programme as “troubled” and has commissioned an independent Lessons Learned Review, led by a QC. The review is continuing and the MOD says it will publish it “with all expedition” once received, accompanied by a statement to the House.

What is Ajax?

Ajax is the name given to the Army’s armoured cavalry programme. This is for a family of six variants of tracked vehicles based on one common platform. The Army says it will be its first fully digitalised platform, with advanced sensors and communications systems to gather and share information in real-time with other units. 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).

This paper uses Ajax to refer to the whole programme, unless explicitly referring to the Ajax reconnaissance vehicle variant.

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. This warfighting division will be built around a “digitally networked combination” of Ajax, Boxer infantry vehicles, Challenger 3 tanks, AH64E Apache helicopters, long range precision fires and un-crewed aerial systems (such as drones).

Ajax will replace the current fleet of tracked reconnaissance vehicles. These are over 40 years old and the Ministry of Defence admits they suffer capability and obsolescence issues. Their out of service date was originally 2014 but has since been extended to 2023.

The Army intends to use the Warrior tracked infantry vehicle until Ajax comes into service.

How much is Ajax costing?

The MOD has a firm price contract of £5.5 billion with GDLS-UK (General Dynamics Land Systems) to deliver 589 vehicles, though the MOD’s Equipment Plan 2022-32 gives an estimated forecast cost to completion of £5.4 billion.

The MOD paused payments to GDLS-UK in December 2020 after issues with noise and vibration emerged. The MOD resumed payments in March 2023.

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.

The emergence of noise and vibration issues meant that for 18 months, from September 2021 until March 2023, the MOD did not commit to an in-service date for Ajax.

Delays to the programme

The programme has encountered several significant issues which has delayed Ajax’s entry into service. This includes issues with the management of the programme and the emergence of excessive noise and vibration leading to concerns for the health of personnel operating the vehicles. In 2021, the Commons Defence Committee described the history of the Army’s armoured fighting vehicle capability as “deplorable”. In 2022, the Public Accounts Committee judged that the MOD’s management of the Ajax programme was “flawed from the outset”, and the NAO  said the MOD had “not managed the programme effectively, warning the programme “faces significant challenges”.

Ajax lessons learnt review

In May 2022 the MOD appointed Clive Sheldon QC to conduct a lessons learnt review of the Ajax programme. The MOD received an initial draft at the end of January 2023. Alex Chalk said the delivery of the final report is up to the Sheldon review. The Minister committed to publishing it “with all expedition” once received, accompanied by a statement to the House.

What are armoured vehicles?

Armoured vehicles describe a range of military vehicles that are, as the name suggests, armoured to provide protection against a range of threats.

They compromise a range of platforms with different roles, including the heavy firepower of Challenger tanks, to Warrior infantry fighting vehicles, as well as reconnaissance, personnel carrier, engineer and ambulance vehicles.

The British Army is in the process of modernising its fleet of armoured vehicles, with new Ajax (armoured cavalry) and Boxer (mechanised infantry) vehicles, and a life extension programme to upgrade its in-service Challenger main battle tank