The Ministry of Defence had accepted 227 Ajax Capability Drop 3 vehicles as of 15 September, including 41 taken on since 17 April, according to an answer given in Parliament.
Ben Obese-Jecty, the Conservative member for Huntingdon, asked for the overall total of each variant now held, mapped against the current production schedule, following an answer of 8 September.
Luke Pollard, the Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, gave the headline figure but declined the breakdown. “The Department does not routinely disclose fleet holdings by variant, nor provide variant-level delivery information against production schedules,” he said. “Such information is directly linked to military readiness and operational capability, and its disclosure could prejudice operational effectiveness by enabling assessments to be made about the availability, preparedness and deployment of capability.”
He added: “The Ajax programme remains on track to deliver all 589 vehicles as contracted.”
Forty one vehicles accepted in five months gives a run rate of roughly eight a month. At that pace the remaining 362 vehicles would take around three and a half years, though the answer gives no delivery profile and no completion date.
Ajax is a family of tracked armoured vehicles built by General Dynamics Land Systems UK, with hulls from Spain and final assembly at Merthyr Tydfil. The reconnaissance variant carries a stabilised 40mm cased telescoped cannon, and the family covers six variants in all. The programme was contracted for 589 vehicles at a firm price of £5.5 billion, and trials were suspended for a period after crews reported hearing damage and joint injuries linked to noise and vibration.
A different opinion to most I’m sure, but, good.
The Army needs a CVRT replacement and the vehicle has positives to go with the many failures.
Push on, get things going, hopefully fixes will arrive.
A better outcome than the RAC walking around on foot, in my opinion.
One has to agree with that if only because we desperately need them.
As a matter of interest when was the last concerning report released claiming there were still issues? It’s just that I thought it would have around 6 months back or is my memory failing me? If so this article suggests an awful lot of vehicles were supplied prior to it, indeed the majority. So how have they been brought up to scratch, judging by what Jim said elsewhere he may be able to enlighten us there. He did mention suspension improvements but if this has helped why on earth did it take so long to introduce, for example after the initial troubled tests.
It was a while, yes.
Sounds fair to me. The thing does look like a beast for capabilities. Course someone will always say something else is better. But apart from the issues this thing looks amazing. Plenty Russian bots about these days though. So you never truly who is saying these things. Less of them now hopefully now Ukraine has started hitting Russian data centres. 🤣
But yeah I am glad to hear this. We need it badly.
Yes apparently the MAGA bots have reduced by 90% after those hits, any obvious fellow travellers on UKDJ suddenly gone quiet I wonder. 🕵
It has a very good gun, good armour protection, and state of the art ISTAR.
The Conops may need changing though, the Armoured recc role with the Strike Bdes, and then the DRSB, demanded these go deep into the FEBA and possibly beyond to find for the Deep Fires along with other ISTAR assets.
With Drones about, surely that no longer applies unless it’s guaranteed that Drones are sanitized?
But these vehicles are dangerous to the users and after a few months storage demonstrates appalling availability. Apart from demonstrating appalling lack of consistent build standards and quality. This vehicle is obsolete in its intended role and is in no way a replacement for CVRT. Haven’t heard one good thing about it from any user.
Also now the subject of damages claim, as the Army knew it was dangerous but recklessly endangered personnel anyway.
Are you involved in the process are you. Must be with your vaste swathes of knowledge on the subject. Or just reading headlines and foreign propaganda?
Yeah it’s had issues but they obviously sorted them out. Availability is due to those issues. They haven’t even got them all. What you on about. It’s better than what Russia has no?
Hope you are right Lee but have we had any official announcement that finally the problems have been truly fixed this time, or is it more nuanced than that leading to acceptances that might, or might not be long lasting, but desperation to have them available deemed to take necessary precedence? Wouldn’t be the first time such decisions have been taken in the hope they won’t be needed in a full on conflict but if they are health and safety issues will be considered a lower priority through immediate necessity. Rock and Hard place come to mind considering the options available.
Was at one stage. Another MoD mess. Had we stuck with it we would still have a domestic A vehicle business. In the light of the fact that we are broke, it’s a RR solution when Patria CAVS is a more pragmatic solution.
The Army have wasted tens of billions over the last thirty years without fielding a major fleet. Twenty I remember working on VERDI2 and other vehicle developments. An object lesson from MoD in how to destroy an entire industry sector and generations of knowledge and end up funding crap Spanish industry and competent Germans
And…. Just what will capability Drop 4 be? As originally planned or something entirely suboptimal?
The ultimate MOD vehicle. Cannot be used and cannot be got rid of.
The people that were in charge of this fiasco should be lynched however, how many are now directors or senior bods in Lockheed Martin?
Stand corrected General Dynamics
Well they could have ended up at Lockheed Martin here, plenty of projects they are involved in and bidding for more, and has the convenience of not looking too obvious a direct transfer. Stealth is all the rage after all.
Good to know they are still building this vehicle. Ajax 2 packs will no doubt be fitted in REME workshops as and when sign-off is achieved.
If it can be fixed which it will be then its right push on with it, was a really stupid idea to retire the CVR Ts before they were fully replaced but that was yet more cost cutting. The vehicle group will be fixed and enter service and to be honest we can not afford to scrap it and start again we as a nation simply do not have the money. Plus buying some thing else we would be at the back of que for orders.
Big question is will be buy the offered IFV variant? would make sense to but will that be a 8 years late nightmare as will, but sensible for spares, training. Or do we still to boxer with a machine gun?
An observation Latvia have recently ordered the latest GD EUROPE Ascod 2 and will be built and in service in record time compared to Ajax . Maybe we could order that version that seems to work fine and is good enough . I got a hunch the UK may wait for the outcome of the USA IFV contest between Rheinmetal and GD . If GD wins then perhaps a new order for these to be built assembled in Wales . With chassis preferably built in USA or Wales .
The issues with the vehicle are never-ending.
Luckily there are people working on the issues and [thus far] ironing them out.