The British Army is projected to take delivery of over 180 Ajax armoured vehicles by 31 December 2025, as part of the troubled Armoured Cavalry Programme, according to Defence Minister Maria Eagle.
In response to parliamentary questions from Ben Obese-Jecty MP, the Minister referred to a previous response from July 2024, reiterating that the programme remains on course to deliver the vehicles by the end of the year.
Eagle confirmed:
“The Armoured Cavalry Programme (Ajax) is projecting the delivery of over 180 operationally deployable platforms by the end of 2025.”
Despite numerous delays and technical challenges—including noise and vibration issues that resulted in a temporary halt to trials—Eagle’s response indicates that the programme is now progressing towards Initial Operating Capability (IOC).
While no firm date has been given for IOC, the MOD’s projection of over 180 delivered vehicles suggests that the Army is moving closer to integrating the Ajax platform into frontline service.
The £5.5 billion Ajax programme, originally intended to provide the Army with a cutting-edge reconnaissance and armoured fighting vehicle fleet, has faced significant delays, cost overruns, and design issues. The Army had expected to begin fielding Ajax in 2017, but extensive technical problems—including concerns over crew safety—pushed the project years behind schedule.
Despite this, the government has maintained that Ajax will play a vital role in modernising the British Army’s armoured capabilities, particularly as part of the Future Soldier transformation plan.
With the programme moving forward, the focus now shifts to whether Ajax can deliver the capability the Army originally envisioned, or whether further delays and modifications will be required before it reaches full operational deployment.
For now, the MOD’s latest figures suggest that, after years of setbacks, the British Army could finally begin receiving significant numbers of Ajax vehicles by the end of this year.
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So what’s the longer term order book for Merthyr Tydfil, a 40mm Ares IFV?
There’s a whole raft of potential platforms that can be developed from AJAX, the only constraint is the will from MOD / ARMY and available cash.
The will from the army to have an IFV should be off the scale. Cash is a different matter.
Agreed!
We can only hope
That would be good, but I don’t know what would need to change for AJAX (designed for Recce) to evolve into an IFV, Space for more infantry? (currently space for 4 dismounts AFAIK)
BofF, No-one is talking about AJAX being redeveloped for IFV use. The (unpublished) talk has been of a number of ARES being converted, which would require a larger order for ARES to be placed and much cash laid out on the table for conversion work. However your basic question is worth asking. Certainly an IFV needs to be able to carry an 8-man infantry section and have a substantial 30-40mm stabilised cannon.
Graham, at the 2023 DSEI show, General Dynamics showed both a digital and a small physical model of an IFV based on the Ajax platform. They stated it could carry up to 8 dismounts. They were able to do this by making the vehicle longer. It had 8 road wheels instead of 7. I can’t remember if the turret was manned or unmanned, but it did have the CTAS 40 gun.
My nephew is in the HCR. He confirmed progress is on-going…but slow
Good news.
I’d like to know what the variant mix is.
I hope the majority of the 180 is the Ajax variant; the rest can and should progress as soon as possible.
As usual I bet the REME variant is the last to be fielded!
You’d be surprised!
Hi mate.
I’ve only seen Scout and Ares so far.
The others are of equal importance for me.
I’ve watched a few Youtube clips, this 40mm gun looks like a proper lethal weapon, I know it’s just one variant but I’ll bet it will be effective even more so than the Bradly is against Russian stuff.
Happy to be educated by those in the know though.
The CT 40 packs at least a 50% bigger wallop than a 30mm. It’s very accurate and the ‘fin’ round can make a hole in 140mm if RHA at 1500m.
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I never thought I would be saying this, but if the Army are happy with Ajax, rock on IOC
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Got to see one of these up close, that 40mm cannon is an impressive beast..infact the whole AFV is huge…. You not going to hide this behind a bush.
Jon, that was always something of a concern that I had. British recce vehicles traditionally have been small, nimble, agile – and our philosophy was to conduct recce by stealth, not to do recce by fighting.
A BIG bush?
It has to be big to meet the survivability requirements and mount all of the ISTAR equipment an AJAX carries around.
I womder what the defintion of IOC is? You would think delivery of 180 vehicles was IOC…and then some.
They may deliver 180 but the training of the units is still a time consuming exercise so it will be more likely be mid to late 2026 before IOC could be logistically claimed. Of course all of this is half a decade late and we should really now be talking about them achieving Full Operating Capability but slow progress is at least progress
I wonder if future aid packages to Ukraine could include some brand new Ajax family vehicles and an increase in production speed (an extra shift added maybe). I would imagine anything we could donate from existing stocks is now more or less gone.