The Ministry of Defence is placing unrealistic expectations on how soldiers can safely operate the Ajax armoured vehicle while its underlying noise and vibration problems remain unresolved, the Public Accounts Committee has found, the UK Defence Journal understands.
In its report on the department’s 2024-25 accounts, the committee said the department was “placing unrealistic expectations on how soldiers operate Ajax vehicles safely when it has still not resolved the underlying noise and vibration issues”. It recounted that Exercise Titan Storm was halted in November 2025 after 33 soldiers reported symptoms from noise and vibration following time spent operating in Ajax vehicles.
Five soldiers were still under medical review when departmental officials gave evidence to the committee in March 2026. The department had claimed the vehicle was safe when operated and maintained correctly within its design parameters, but the committee said it had not explained clearly how the exercise had exceeded those limits.
The committee took particular issue with the department’s expectation that soldiers carry out maintenance checks every time they stop the vehicle, which it called unreasonable given that soldiers may need to use vehicles for long periods in combat. The need for soldiers to build and maintain the skills to operate armoured vehicles was clear, it said, but the vehicles themselves had to be fit for purpose.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the committee’s chair, said the report had to add another chapter to the troubled history of the programme. “Our thoughts are with all those soldiers who reported symptoms from noise and vibration after operating these vehicles, and we were frankly astounded to hear officials explain that proper use of Ajax requires maintenance checks every time it is stopped,” he said. “This is frankly an insult to intelligence, and much good may this advice do our fighting men and women if called upon to operate Ajax in combat.”
The department is developing a package of upgrades known as Ajax 2, including composite rubber tracks and automatic track tensioners, intended to make the vehicle more comfortable for its crew. The committee said the department had not given it the likely costs of those upgrades, and that it would “wait to see, more in hope than in expectation, whether these endeavours will succeed”.
The committee’s recommendation pressed the department on two fronts. It should explain why it believes the current operating restrictions for Ajax are “realistic and appropriate, given the nature of the tasks those vehicles and their crews are expected to undertake both in training and on the battlefield”. And it should provide a detailed memorandum setting out “precisely how much the Department will pay for Ajax”, including how much the manufacturer will pay for the delays in delivering a vehicle fit for purpose, the cost of the modifications needed to bring the vehicles up to standard and how much of that the manufacturer will bear, and why the department still expects Ajax can be made fit for purpose.
Ajax, a tracked reconnaissance vehicle, has been among the most troubled procurement programmes of recent years, beset by long delays and by safety concerns over noise and vibration that previously halted trials and prompted medical assessments of crews. The committee’s latest findings indicate that, despite years of work, questions over whether the vehicle can be operated safely under realistic conditions, and over its eventual cost, remain unresolved.
Ha, You should try riding a “Hardly Moveingson” If you want to suffer from Noise and Vibration !
More American junk. 🚮🚜🛵
If Ajax 2 doesn’t work why not a Ajax 3 with completely new suspension?! Can’t they manufacture new Ajax chassis’ for these 40mm turrets and use the old chassis’ for something else, convert to Ares with a RWS?
The problem is not only related to Ajax apparently it’s over the whole family of vehicles!
To expect a crew to get out and do maintenance every time it stops just beggars belief,it’s just not possible🤬
It’s actually not that uncommon, warrior crews have to do the same. Challenger 2 was one of the first vehicles to have in cab automatic tensioning added. It’s certainly not ideal but it’s a decent work around for now instead of scrapping the entire program.
Really! How many exercises have you been on where AFV crews jump out every 5 mins to do maintenance? Just imagine it can’t you “ move now” “sorry not at the moment still doing maintenance ” 🙄
Obviously Ajax etc are still not fit for purpose and they are trying to put the onus on the crews🤬
I have never been on an exercise where the crews had to jump out every 5 minutes to tighten the tracks.
That’s because track tightening is done on a twice daily basis or at regular intervals based on distance covered, not every 5 minutes.
It may surprise you to learn that the crews also have to get out and fill vehicles with fuel at regular intervals depending on distance covered. 😀
Bugger me who would have thought it 🤔so vehicles really need replen stops🙄😂yes a couple of times a day to check tensions etc is common however that’s not what’s being said here is it?\ the crews have to take every opportunity to do the checks implying every time they stop! NO other AFV even with slack tracks were/are making their crews sick! It’s becoming obvious sadly Ajax can’t be fixed.
Centurion AVRE,Chieftain AVLB,CET and 432s were within my experience what was yours?
I check my Bike chain every week, If that’s any help 🤔😁
Very wise can I recommend you do your gear cable as well👌and don’t forget to grease it!
The crews are being told to check the tracks (not tighten or adjust them) every time they stop, they are not being told to stop every 5 minutes. The manufacturer does not believe the tracks need to be checked every time they stop. It’s been done as an abundance of caution measure which is very sensible thing to do in peace time.
But maybe the better idea would just be for everyone to copy your lead and loose their s**t over the matter, cancel it then wait ten years for another vehicle while cancelling something else to pay for it.
or we could act like grown ups, institute a range of common procedures with significant historical presidents to mitigate an issue while a longer term solution is investigated and deployed.
Jacko, it is SOP for vehicles in use to have a First Parade and Final Parade, ie various checks and actions before first use that day and after final use that day. Additionally a Halt Parade is done when there is a deliberate stop, usually on a long journey; I don’t think it was ever intended that you do a Halt Parade when paused briefly in the middle of a tactical manouevre on exercise or operations!..or to do a huge number of Halt parades every day.
One of the most significant things for a driver to check on a tracked vehicle very regularly is the track tension as tracks stretch in use and can be too loose, leading to the possibility of ‘throwing a track’, but also a loose track might add to whole vehicle vibration.[An overtight track, much rarer, is also bad].
The User community and the maintainers will have attended a comprehensive course specific to Ajax. Soldiers are mostly good at doing what they have been instructed to do on courses; if they don’t the vehicle can let the crew (and other occupants if carried) down, a defaulting driver or maintainer could face disciplinary action etc.
The proper use of any vehicle is detailed in Army Equipment Support Publications (AESPs) with seperate sections for the driver/operator and the maintainers at the various levels of maint. What I just do not understand is that with Ajax-specific courses and the AESP in place, that soldiers (both Users and maintainers) have apparently got things wrong so often; most of these personnel will be experienced tracked AFV users and maintainers so checking track tension for example is totally familiar. The personnel at ATDU are especially experienced at driving and maintenance and the problems were manifest years ago when in ATDU hands; it seems like the Chain of Command ignored CO ATDU’s warnings.
Either the Use and maintenance regime is so very different and far more demanding for Ajax than for any tracked AFV we have ever had or someone is choosing to blame the soldiers for the vehicles’ intrinsic design faults, probably because it would cost too much and take too long to remedy them. Ajax is either very badly designed/built or there is a deeply disturbing conspiracy of blame at work.
An enlightening post mate.
Checks every time they stop, if meant literally, seems ludicrous, and might not even be possible in combat. Checks at First, Final, and Halt parades logical and as you say surely second nature for all experienced crews.
I go for a combinaton of both scenarios, faults in design, then senior command passing the buck.
Hey, they must have learned from the government, it’s never the fault of anyone senior there either.
Seems quite telling that the latest issue showed up after a month long exercise.
“Here, Reilly said personnel failed to operate and maintain the platform to specification during the month-long Titan Storm exercise in November 2025, when complaints of excessive internal noise and vibration levels arose once again.”
AJAX vibration issue is a highly complex issue, if it wasn’t it would have show up in its 42,000km drive test program in 2023. The issue is likely to be a combination of sub standard design, manufacturing flaws, poor command decisions, tiered crews on exercise no sticking to proper maintenance schedules.
These issues show up in weapons programs all the time. The SA80 being a perfect example of this, as with the SA80 a near term training fix brought it up to a useable standard while a re manufactured version 2 solved most of the issues and turned it into reliable weapon loved by its users. The difference between Ajax and the SA80 is it has not taken the MoD ten years and several warts to acknowledge the issue and come up with a fix.
This is reminiscent of some of the attitudes prior and during the early stages of the war, I just don’t know what planet these people are living on, I mean who actually are they? It proves the point that the attitude has always been since the fall of the Soviet Union that these are fundamentally toys to play with and show off or represent paper numbers politicians can boast about, rather than use in any real conflict. And these comments refer to brand new vehicles, it will all start to fall apart once they are even 5 years old. Always said there was little in the proposed updates that would fundamentally solve the inherent problems, amelioration at best smoke and mirrors more predictably and only relevant with new and lightly used vehicles without constant ‘rebuilds’ to even maintain that marginal usability and as usual troops to be the cannon fodder for other’s incompetence. This report seems to confirm these fears, indeed as usual I don’t seem to have been cynical enough. Same old story, lions led by headless chickens.
If it can’t be fixed in a cheap timely manner bin Ajax, and then bin MOD as it is clearly not fit for purpose.
If it was that simple it would have been done. It’s quite telling that the MoD has had to state the defence contractor is not at fault for the public record.
Blame every one but the builder and who ever ordered this money pit, bad choice as per normail no is to blame, for a over weight gold plated vehicle that in the face of drones etc is likely now out of date before it ever enters full service, if it ever does
I know it’s risking the ‘but they are different blah blah blah’ brigade but I was somewhat concerned a few weeks back that there were questions in this new drone dominant battlefield that even the most successful and much in demand Fighting Vehicle the CV-90 might find it tough to survive in developing and future battlefields which has made some potential buyers hesitate to commit to them. Different role or not what would make Ajax any more survivable as a recon vehicle with rather less lethality and which clearly dulls the capability of its crew to operate at their highest capability if at all. Indeed how many would even be able to be fielded to answer that question reliably. At best any consideration for the health and fighting condition of the troops or the vehicles would go to the wall in any conflict, as we have seen before bravely men sent to their fate in vehicles not fit for purpose even as the top brass and politicians boast about supreme capabilities. Difficult to believe anything these failed mouth pieces say anymore, little seems to have changed in a Century of such misdirection and delusion from those who send others into war.
Wasn’t part of the vibration problem due to missing engine and deck bolts too?