The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that 91 Ajax armoured vehicles have been accepted into service as of March 2025, with a further 498 still to be delivered.
The figures, provided by Defence Minister Lord Coaker in response to a Written Parliamentary Question from Lord Campbell of Pittenweem, offer a fresh update on the British Army’s flagship reconnaissance vehicle programme.
Developed by General Dynamics, the Ajax programme has long been positioned as a cornerstone of the Army’s Future Soldier transformation, providing a modernised armoured capability across six variants. In total, the UK has ordered 589 Ajax vehicles, which will serve as the backbone of the Army’s Armoured Brigade Combat Teams.
Of those, 446 newly built vehicles are scheduled for delivery between 2024 and 2028, with deliveries varying year-on-year—ranging from 93 in 2024 to a peak of 125 in 2027. In addition to these new builds, a further 143 vehicles are set to be retrofitted to the final deployable standard, with completion expected by 2029.
The delivery schedule was originally outlined in response to a Written Parliamentary Question tabled under the previous government. John Healey MP, then Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, had asked for a breakdown of expected deliveries across each year up to 2030. James Cartlidge MP, then Minister of State for Defence Procurement, provided the following breakdown:
| Year | New Vehicles |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 93 |
| 2025 | 89 |
| 2026 | 66 |
| 2027 | 125 |
| 2028 | 73 |
| 2029 | 0 |
| 2030 | 0 |
Cartlidge also noted that all future deliveries would consist only of deployable-standard vehicles, and that the schedule for retrofitting earlier build-standard platforms was still under development. These retrofits now represent nearly a quarter of the total fleet, reflecting a significant effort to bring early production models in line with operational requirements.
While the Ministry remains confident in the programme’s future, with Lord Coaker recently reaffirming its importance to Army modernisation, the figures suggest a complex delivery landscape—balancing new production with a parallel retrofitting process.
Despite early technical challenges, the programme appears to be moving forward, with increasing attention on meeting capability targets and aligning vehicle availability with the Army’s evolving force structure.
At least the early units will be upgraded. In some cases I’d guess it is as simple as changing a single component to the full In Service spec. On the very first T&E units I suspect a lot more
I really hope these are what army wants and needs.
More importantly that they protect and enable soldiers.
As I understand it no it’s actually quite significant
Ajax will be delivered in 5 capability drops 0, 1,2,3, 4 with capability drop 3 being the operational standard and 4 the final standard
There were 6 drop zero vehicles ( essentially the pre production models) 52 drop 1 vehicles and 86 drop 2 for 144
But the capability drop 3 vehicle have a lot over the first 2 including enhancements to armour, the weapon system, communications, mobility and signature reduction. So it’s quite a rebuild to to be honest.. even for the drop two.
FYI, no drop 2 vehicles were built / delivered to / accepted by the customer.
It would be good to see a visual break down in the different variants.
It looks like some of the sensors have moved around between different drops. The income round detectors used to be located on the front left and right corner of Ajax, now it is located closer to the turret.
The barrel sleeves are an obvious change, is the signature reduction going to be the thermal covering produced by SAAB?
I’m not sure if the upgraded armour would be noticeable or not unless it involved a change to the side mounted storage boxes and skirts covering the tracks.
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They had 124 in service as of April last year in the official equipment figures on gov.uk.
Wonder how this is calculated.
*128
For interest the numbers for the difference capability drops and types
Variant Description
Recce Scout
AJAX
245
21 drop 1
25 drop2
72 drop 3
127 drop 4
Recce Sp APC
ARES
93
6 drop 0
9 drop 1
18 drop 2
25 drop 3
35 drop 4
Recce ES Repair
APOLLO
50
7 drop 1
9 drop 2
13 drop 3
21 drop 4
Recce ES Recovery
ATLAS
38
7 drop 1
7 drop 2
14 drop 3
10 drop 4
C2 (Command & Control)
ATHENA
112
6 drop 1
16 drop 2
27 drop 3
63 drop 4
Eng Recce
ARGUS
51
2 drop 1
11 drop2
4 drop 3
34 drop 4
Total all types
589
6 drop 0
52 drop 1
86 drop 2
155 drop 3
290 drop 4
Now it’s important to remember drops 0-2 the first 144 vehicles are not operational vehicles, they are/ were there for the army to have something to train on and they will all be withdrawn and rebuild as the capability 3 vehicles come on.
Jon, great info. Where on earth did you track this info down? I presume all vehicles so far delivered have been Drop 0 and Drop 1??
Deliveries of Drop 3 platforms started earlier this year.
Hi graham I found it in an old question from an MP to a minister from 2021. Ministry of Defence written question – answered at on 14 June 2021. Question from Mr Kevin jones MP answer from minister Jeremy Quinn MP. You can find it on Hansard.
It is amazing what you can dig up from MOD FOIs and answers from Hansard.
Don’t I know it. 😉
Jon, or should I say ‘Sherlock’? Great research. Frustrating how MoD Press Releases nowadays lack detail.
Those numbers suggest about a 25% slip in delivery schedule so far in 2024 to 2025.
Interestingly the original delivery schedule was to be on drop 4 by 2025.
Jonathan, this is great info, but don’t you think (like me) we will need more and at a faster rate to achieve readiness for Russia’s next move around 2030/5.
Maurice, article says they are all delivered by 2028. first 50% by next year.
I wonder if more will be ordered following the SDR. The cheapest and easiest way to add mass is to order more of a product that has a hot production line.
Ajax is not yet a ready off the shelf product and will not be until drop 4.. and we don’t know when that will be as the core communications equipment that will make Ajax as envisaged has not even finished being developed yet.
It’s one of the big problems with Ajax the army created 1200 requirements for the vehicle, many of those requirements needed equipment that had not been designed yet and some of it has still not been designed.
Infact it’s not well advertised but a lot of the digital enablers that are built into Ajax are essentially useless until Morpheus is brought into service and that is now not likely to happen until the middle of the 2030s..
In reality the very cheapest way to add mass to the armies armoured vehicles is ass follows
1) do a life extension on warrior..the cheapest and best way to get 300-400 Tracked IFVs
2) turn every available challenge 2 hull into a challenger 3
3) buy a cheap STANAG 4 protected wheeled APC at 1 million a pop and buy around 1500 of them
I think option 3 would be best . That could cater for attrrition of vehicles in war and also provide a spare capacity to mobilise extra units in time if war . Straight off the shelf kit ready to be built and go while we are still mu king about with ajax , boxer , challenger 3 orders . 1bn well spent
Rst, that wasn’t a list of 3 options. It was a proposal that all three needed to happen.
Regarding APCs, I believe Babcock basically made a proposal to the MoD to supply Patria 6×6 vehicles, which are supposed to be around $1m USD each, they’re amphibious, STANAG level 2 with a level 4 pack available and can be fitted with autocannons and the NEMO 120mm mortar system.
Andrew, why would more be ordered? The army state the Requirement (including and especially the numbers required) and ultimately the contract is written to deliver that number. Delivering more than 589 would exceed the army’s requirement.
This would be a follow on order from the original 589
The army has the below requirements that could be fulfilled by a follow on ARES or Boxer order.
Bridge Layer
Anti tank/mobile strike
IFV
SHORAD
The requirement for 120m Mortar is likely to go to Boxer or if the British army wants a cheaper chassis patria (it will likely be a boxer module)
The last thing we need are even more Ajax , we don’t know what to do with the ones we’ve got . They are certainly not the backbone of our under armed and outgunned armoured brigade combat teams ( of which we now have only two ) as this article states. The lesson of Ukraine is that the last thing the army needs is 498 totally pointless Ajax white elephant, most recce functions on the contemporary battlefield being perforned by drones. What we need are 498 IFV.
My thinking too, let’s be honest even if these recce vehicles are very useful without any real mass or IFV which have proved themselves vital in Ukraine then all they will be effective for is enabling a more organised retreat (hopefully) at the first opportunity. I may be wrong but during the whole delay process warfare seems to have moved on.
One other thing, perhaps some with more knowledge than I on the subject without getting into the old repetitive argument, can expand upon the Lynx being described on its website as coming in three size/weight combinations and specs include all manner of variations including a IFV variant as well as recce.
I can’t make expert comment on the capability but several things are worth noting: Lynx IFV was down selected in Australia and lost out to Redback; it has lost out to CV90 in other bids; it has the same transmission I think, as Ajax; it is made by our friends at Rheinmetall who promote it as having lower through life costs; there is a ‘fire support’ version which mounts a version of the CR3 120mm smoothbore gun. Not an obvious choice maybe but I would say its in the frame as a Warrior replacement of the alternatives are an Ares derivative or a tracked Boxer.
Worth noting that there is a fire support version of Ajax with a 120mm gun as well, it just wasn’t ordered by the British Army. But the constraints of needing to fit a 120mm on Ajax resulted in the very big turret ring it has.
Paul, I wish we heard something official from MoD about future IFVs – too much speculation at the moment.
Sadly drones do not negate the need for recce vehicles. Drones are an adjunct, they compliment, but don’t replace, even in the Recce role.
Pongolo, I would have said that Ajax are the ‘vanguard’ or ‘the eyes and ears’ of the warfighting division, not the backbone.
No-one conducts recce solely by drones – they cannot do everything in the recce arena and have their weaknesses and limitations. In some UKR situations up to 50% of drones did not get through to complete their task.
We have always used multiple assets to do a military task.
O/T it looks like 8/10 Pumas are on their way to Ukraine👍
Is that akin to 8 out of 10 (big) Cats then ?…I wish Jimmy Carr was taking em over…and staying there.
I wouldn’t begrudge the whole Puma fleet being sent – the French could upgrade them and we know the UKR would use them.
However, when are they being replaced?
How did anyone at MoD not have enough OCD to bump the order from 589 to 590?
It would have driven me crazy!
Are we dependent on US for support of these things? If so they sound about as useful as an ash tray on a motorbike.
Abah, Ajaxis built in the UK by a UK company which has a US parent. Babcocks will provide support from the Static workshops. I don’t see that the US has any role in its support.