The British Army is examining potential weapon options for the Ares armoured vehicle as part of a wider programme assessing how elements of its armoured fleet could be equipped with enhanced lethality.
In a written parliamentary answer, Defence Minister Luke Pollard confirmed that the Army and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory have established an enduring research programme to assess possible capability upgrades, including the consideration of medium-calibre cannon options, the UK Defence Journal understands.
Responding to a question from Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty on whether the Northrop Grumman M230LF dual-feed Bushmaster chain gun was being assessed for Ares, Pollard said the weapon was one of several systems under consideration.
“The Army and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory have established an enduring research programme to assess the benefits of equipping elements of the armoured vehicle fleet with a range of capabilities, including enhanced lethality,” he said, adding that “the M230LF is being considered alongside other medium-calibre cannon options available from industry.”
The minister’s response follows earlier parliamentary answers setting out the intended role of Ares within the Ajax family of vehicles. Pollard has previously stated that “the ARES variant of Ajax is designed for mounted close combat and is being delivered to the Field Army.”
He confirmed that the decision to field Ares with infantry battalions was taken “after a considerable assessment programme,” with the vehicle intended to provide protected mobility for infantry rather than to operate as a traditional infantry fighting vehicle.
In the same response, Pollard made clear that there is “currently no Ajax Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) variant,” and that while a concept demonstrator exists, “this is not a prototype IFV.” He added that the Army continues to review its requirements “to deliver the Armoured Infantry Capability.”
However, these capability assessments are taking place against the backdrop of a wider review of the Ajax programme itself. Ministers have confirmed that the programme is now under formal reassessment following long-running technical and safety issues, including problems related to noise and vibration.
Speaking to the Defence Committee, the Secretary of State for Defence said that the programme must now be “backed or scrapped,” with work underway to determine whether Ajax can be made safe, effective and viable for long-term service.
Initial Operating Capability for Ajax has been withdrawn, programme governance has been reset, and responsibility has been removed from the Army, with a new Senior Responsible Owner appointed to oversee the review..
Ok, this will confuse, as ARES is a part of the Ajax family.
Why have this study to decide on its gun if the Ajax is canned? Or do the problems ONLY effect the Ajax Scout variant? It has been asked before here and not fully resolved AFAIK?
No I checked up on this to see if it was just the excess weight of the Ajax turret causing the problems and apparently the reported issue is from both ARES and Ajax.. it’s a apparently a whole host of issues coming together from poor alignment of the original hulls from Spain, leading to poor fitting of the equipment and electronics and finally drive train issues due to weight..
Thanks.
So, hope for the hulls made here then after the first batches, hopefully.
Hi Daniele, no hulls are manufactured in UK.
So current production Ares models are problem free?
How many hulls came from Spain! Was it just the 50 batch 1 or any more/any less!
There are 24 vehicles that were going testing for noise and vibration.
Hopefully the current batch 3 are all fine and worse comes to worse we just scrap the 24 for spares and do a follow order which can use the parts that are still good
Who would pay for the follow on order? LM have delivered the initial batch as ordered working or not.
Possible upgrade path for the RN 30mm guns?
“Possible upgrade path for the RN 30mm guns?”
I think it would be a downgrade. The M230 is the Apache attack helicopter’s lightweight 30X113mm gun, while the DS30M naval mount uses the more powerful 30X173mm MK44 Bushmaster 2 gun.
Warrior is being retired soon and there’s no replacement IFV in the plan! Does anyone think that’s a little odd?
No, the Army has been full of gaps for years what’s another between friends.
For better or worse, probably worse, the army decided it no longer needed a IFV and instead doubling down on the boxer. Clearly that was a cost driven decision but time will tell if it was a compromise too far or not.
Ermm, yeah errr well that’s all pretty messed up then.
Does anyone actually have a clue where we are with all these Tanky things ???
Obviously, the army must have reviewed and successfully concluded the fixing options for Ares and decided to move on to the gun options. All sounds very positive.
There are 245 CTAS 40 weapon systems sitting somewhere, that were original bought for the Warrior capability sustainment program, or have they been sold on? Nexter manufacture the T40 unmanned turret specifically for the CTAS40, which is used by the VBCI-2 and Jaguar EBRC. Could the T40 turret combination be fitted ARES? Thereby giving the vehicle the same punch as Ajax, significantly more lethality than using the much smaller Bushmaster M230. But also not significantly increasing the logistical and maintenance burden of having to service and maintain yet another weapon system.
‘An enduring research programme’. That’s a new one on me. =no idea what to do and not really planning to find out.
Used like this, ‘enduring’ means going on for, if not ever, pretty much so.
One of the advantages in canning Ajax and going for CV90 is that it comes with an IFV variant.
Even if AJAX is saved ARES is a poor choice for an IFV. I don’t think anyone would want to wait for another decade well General Dynamics gets around to building an IFV.
One wonders if we could get the 40mm CTA onto CV90. The Swedish use a 40mm Bofors on their CV90 however I doubt the British army has enough time to mess around with a bespoke design.
It looks like a fleet of Warriors is being converted into manned/unmanned vehicles for mine clearance..