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 !
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I had a test ride on the V-Rod, never again. Engine was ok, but the brakes were terrible. The thing just didn’t want to stop, which became a bit of an issue coming off a dual carriageway up to a round about.
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!
Nipples !
No need for that sort of foreign minded language Halfwit, any more of that sort of filthy talk and il report you sir…
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.
Well I haven’t lost ‘my shit’ as you say,how long has this problem been known now a good couple of years and still no solution in sight!how long do you give it?
So what is it “the crews are being told to check the track every time they stop” or “ the manufacturer doesn’t believe the tracks need checked” make your mind up one way or the other.
What historical presidents are there with any of our AFVs having similar problems?the only one I can think of that made crews unwell was the translucent fuel tank in Warrior causing motion sickness.solved by painting it.
“What historical presidents are there with any of our AFVs having similar problems?”
That is the clincher.
I can tell you we never did anything like that on Warrior and thats a fact.
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.
I wouldn’t be using L85 as an example Jim.
The early X series prototypes actually worked quite well, reliability and build quality actually got worse as it was ‘refined’ towards production!!!
The many issues were well known and throughly understood by by SASC, but the design was frozen anyway by the powers that be and Enfield and Nottingham manufactured 300,000, faults and all, under the unofficial “bang em out and bollocks to it” initiative.
All under British Aerospace ownership, who ironically got paid again to put the rubbish right, because they owned Hk at the time!
Honestly, you couldn’t make this shit up….
GD would likely supply the best vehicles for the test program, strange how Ian “Lord Haw Haw” who was Ajax’s chief propaganda merchant is silent.
Didn’t the senior officer in the test program say these issues did come up? He raised them officially and they were buried and ignored by officers above and the company.
Jim, you quoted Lt Gen Reilly thus: “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.”
Interesting that at no other time have crew and REME negligence been mentioned by anyone in MoD, just on this one exercise, although one GDUK ‘Acceptance Manager said the same in early Dec 2025 and was called out for it. Funny, that! Seems like Reilly is belatedly parrotting a GDUK employee’s unsubstantiated allegation.
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.
I didn’t realise it was all the variants. If that’s true its a pretty appalling waste of monies, materials and time! If its that bad then, bin it, get something ots that works, make under licence in the UK. Hard to believe that there’s no contract liabilities and or insurance that some monies can be reclaimed from.
If you wanted something to work, perhaps an Ajax3 based on a CV90 chassis?
How about just cancelling Ajax and then suing general dynamics and then purchasing CV90? What an utter shambles the Ajax programme was from start to finish. I hate this concept of “sunk costs” where a crap programme continues because people invested too much money into making it work. Cancel it and stop wasting money, time, effort and distracting our armed services. It never worked and it will never work as intended unless we get rid of soldiers inside and make it autonomous. Even then you can probably hear this thing from 30 miles away.
General Dynamics is a UK division, they made small losses the last two years and have no money, Cameron’s 5.5 billion fixed price contract has risen to 6.5 billion as unlikely they had the money to complete the outstanding vehicles. They will be increasing spare parts prices and maintenance costs to keep the factory afloat.
I think this is becoming a major distraction for our armed services. Clearly Ajax doesn’t work as intended and the competition that it won was a fraud. They should stop wasting and cancel it and then purchase the BAE systems CV90 instead even if it isn’t percdct. It’s the classic “sunk costs” and try to bodge and make do. I mean for god’s sake the MoD said the soldiers should stop periodically and do maintenance checks….ffs who writes this sh**. Whatever idiot started this project needs to be named and shamed and potentially lose their pension at the very least. Where is the accountability in the MoD these days?
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.
There’s got to be faults somewhere across all parties. Those that designed it and those that built it!
This is more Labour spin, if the first prototype was shown off at the 2015 DSEI exhibition they had plenty of time to put it right unless unfixable or management only interested in milestone payments and management bonuses. All bonuses should be reclaimed from management.
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.
Yes I agree, it’s interesting how many are dumping CV90 now.
Last thing we need to do is start over with another armoured recce program. It may now be as useful as cavalry in 1939.
If the UK had bought CV90 we be in the exact same problem with the blah blah blah’ brigade, said brigade is largely full of old f**ts who would complain if anything other than CVR(t) is used. The same blah blah blah brigade forgets that when CVR(t) came out the same old farts complained about that to. 😀
So how many countries are dumping CV90 dude? One country changed its order from CV90 to drones because it didn’t have money for both, that’s all I know about.
Well us old “farts” definitely have something you obviously don’t and that’s experience!we tend to know what works and what doesn’t,as for new kit for when we served nobody moaned about CVRT,Chally1or Warrior as after minor niggles they actually worked as has been proved by their length of service! Still you go on spouting about all and sundry as usual👍
Haha.. i was about to say “eff it, at this point we may aswell just new-build cvr(t) and slap on some drone cm’s and gun stabilization”
As BAE produced a working prototype with 120 mm gun on a CV 90 hull you are delusional. The CV90 120 weighs between 35 and 37 tons depending on armour package, this shows their vehicle can cope with the weight gain without vibrating its arse off. Don’t forget the isolation mounts for seats driver controls, anti drumming panels , new sprocket profiles and active noise cancelling headsets is mitigation for a slab sided hull which performs like a loud speaker.
Replace it with what and where would the money come from? the whole project has been by the war in Ukraine shown to be out dated. How any one fixes that is well past my pay bracket. Bringing in to service as half working muddle will be normal for the MOD claiming its great while crews spend for ever putting up with it while told to keep quite.
Wasn’t part of the vibration problem due to missing engine and deck bolts too?
Doesn’t anyone QA inspect these vehicles to tick things off prior to leaving the shed?
I don’t know the ins and outs of tank maintenance but I do know that this programme has so far cost £6.3 billion in acheiving very little. We could have had a CV90 recce. version in service five years ago but successive governmnets have interfered and dithered and bought American when there was no need, as is often the case.
GE bought out Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug and Santa Bárbara Sistemas, which developed the vehicle in the 90s. So, a Spanish-developed vehicle was bought out by an American company. Even the Americans had the sense to drop the M10 Booker in favour of the ASCOD 2.
Correction – I mistyped. The m10 was based on ASCOD 2.
Yep. One problem leads to another, then we get hold of ot. make umpteen changes and make it worse. UK procurement at it’s best. I do believe that the way we buy should be the first thing we sort out. Any big private company would have gone bankrupt by now, although Reeves is doing her damndest.
The M10 booker worked with hull redesign and Horstman pneumatic suspension, the initial problems with cooling and charge fumes were solved. The problem was the vehicle weight exceeded air portability specifications and in field maintenance requirements so did not achieve the requirements for the role.
Ajax is out dated, and not very well made its is just not put together right and quality control seems just to wave every thing through. Shoddy work manship and some where those with rank just pushing to get it in service regarudless of the problems. We have all been there when those above just do accept things and force ctrap kit on the rst to make them selves look good.
Then spend for ever on work arounds and make do and mend and get told to shut up because some hight rank wanted a tick in box by getting this kit in to service.
There is no money to replace Ajax but then replace it with what?
We have talked about the obvious replacements many times. A couple of years ago I was favouring testing tracked Boxer as a replacement; why run two separate systems of virtually the same size? The tracked Boxer hull is rated for higher weights than Ajax and could make a good replacement. I think the politics of that is now impossible, ditto for the CV-90. Nobody is prepared to ditch Ajax as it will be painted as throwing £5bn down the drain. Of course a lot of the expensive systems would be reusable anyway, but it would still be painted as failure. For the government it’s better the Ajaxs are bad than look bad.
We all think we know the main problem with Ajax — it stretched the ASCOD’s design limits beyond weight tolerances. All that’s left is to either build new Ajax hulls redesigned to better standards and tolerances; slowly migrate the Ajax systems. We could try reducing the weight on the current hulls, remove armour, distribute the systems over more hulls, but I suspect that wouldn’t work too well and would end up with a deliberately inferior machine.
No matter what happens we are stuck with the current mess for a few more years, but every year we are still pretending it’s all okay is another year before we fix it.
It cost too much to scrap, there is nk money to replace it so whatvthe MOD abd some in the Army will do is force it in to service abd the Army will just have do what they can with it and be told shut up. All these so called fixes who is paying for them and when will they ever finally be sorted as ut seems its next year oh no wait the year after.
It will enter service sub standard and stay pretty much like thst and that has happened before. Those with Rank will just say shut up and put and make it work. And then deny any thing is wrong with it.
Cameron’s 5.5 billion fixed price contract has risen to to 6.5 billion before all the vehicles are delivered, the UK Government must be paying as GD UK are broke.
Sunk costs…the bugbear of any failed programme. I made some comment about using CV90 but I would agree with others in that in view of the Ukraine war we are seeing autonomous vehicles and drones as being more sensible (and vastly cheaper).
Another waste of money it seems. Cancel the order and move on to an ots vehicle. Ffs stop dithering and make a decision. Utterly embarrassing.
When can we expect to see some Ajax 2s to test?
It’s not an “Unrealistic expectation” to perform very basic checks each time the vehicle moves.
It’s a simple case of …
‘anything wrong’ –> potentially report it
As it was when soldiers got ill: There was something wrong. It didn’t get reported. They kept on trying to use the vehicle when there were faults. Tears all round.
As for the Ajax 2. I think it will solve many of the problems, but checks will still need to be performed each time on the vehicles, even with the latest fixes.
This is the same for the AJAX as it is for many other vehicles (That said. I don’t think the version of the AJAX they have without updates will work.)
And we can not afford to buy new vehicles or write Ajax off so we will get stuck with some thing sub standard we do not really want but can not scrap. Sounds like most contracts the MOD sign, with never ending added costs. I think we will just get told to accept Ajax as is and work around it for the next 30 years as we have done with other crap kit to save face and jobs in the UK.
The ammount kit the MOD buys which just save jobs and keep unions happy is massive nd most of it is expensive , late and never works as it should.
Ajax is just another one in a long list,
You ever worked tracked vehicles? one that needs lots of checks etc all the time is use less in combat when people are tired, stressed and need kit to work properly, any one who thinks stop and check every time is ok is not AVF crew just a commander or higher up out of touch with reality, the just get on with it type
How can you _guarantee_ the vehicle is in OK shape without doing basic checks?
You have first hult abd last parades but to need check some thing over abd over means it’s crap and should never have been signed off. There checks on all armoured vehicles but if you need check a vehicle endless many times a day then is not much good nor is the idea realistic unless you are shut commander expecting others to do all the work and do ut when tired under pressure and have a vehicle thst is simply not reliable. If you gave do checks every few minutes than that vehicle is useless for combat and un safe. Some commander seem to think other wise but they are the crap ones
Perhaps that is the issue.
That the AJAX vehicle is simply not reliable like this (in the sense that it needs to be checked). Nor was it designed or marketed to be like that and the MoD acquired it anyway regardless.
No idea but some one some where is pushing just get it accepted, after all the MOD scrapped all the CVRTs, so not as if if it was cancellkled the Army has a fall back plan its all or nothing. What fool retires a bit of kit before its replacement is in service? oh like Nimrod/Harrier/AS90 etc
Its those at the top too busy looking for brownie points for agreeing to to such things rather standing up and saying wait until we have a working replacement.
I’d guess that vehicles like this would “loosen up” over time. These are supposed to be used over rough terrain at pace. As time goes by and components wear no amount of tinkering when the vehicle is stopped is going to improve things. Surely they’re only going to get worse over time or alternatively spend an unacceptable amount of time in deep maintenance. I am absolutely no expert but surely if it starts knackered when new it isn’t going to improve with age?
Agree. They should just put it out to tender for new design. Designed and built in uk. I dont believe its essentially that difficult to build an ifv apc chassis. The UK has done it many times before , its just a square box 🙂 thats why lots of other nations are building apc ifv now 2nd and 3rd tier military nations . This whoke Gduk will just drag on . Gduk should be bought out by govt and new management placed in charge . Granted politicians help really mess things up as well as mod. With drones its debatable ifv tanks are going to be much use anywayz without complete air and space superiority me thinks. No mans land is moving out to 100miles in Ukraine.
AJAX will end up as hard targets on ranges
When I was moaning about Ajax on here someone pointed out that the UK has a commitment to NATO to provide this rather niche heavy recce capability.
No other NATO country has heavy recce capability.
Apparently the UK has commited to provide this speciality (I can’t remember the NATO name for this recce force) in conjunction with the USA whom I assume would provide the majority of the heavy airlift required to deliver the heavy recce vehicles soonest.
UK is stuck. ….it’s extremely logistic heavy to deploy continuous rubber tracks in a heavy recce or second battle situation.
As others have already said the manufacturers are officially decreed to be ‘not at fault’
Someone else (who seemed to know what they were talking about) previously mentioned a different suspension system….there is a better one….might do it
The 42+ ton Ajax is running on torsion bar suspension for every wheel station, which requires very stiff torsion bars to handle the loads. This will make the whole vehicle very stiff, I.e. a Vibrating box.
The suspension is the issue with Ajax, and has always caused the vibration issues.
The fix is, hydrogas units as on challenger or, In Arm independent Hydro pneumatic suspension (isu) units as used on the hanwha Redback.
This upgrade will solve the issues but will come with a huge cost!
Also limited space for the torsion bar rotary dampers, likely cost 1 billion for suspension change, if hulls not square each mount will have to be machined to correct alignment.
Yes, exactly Pete 👍
Or unique adaptor plates for each vehicle. Expensive uplift whatever they do?
To operate within design parameters? These things are or should be designed to go into war, go where troops need to go and go when needed, not it is outside the design spec so we can’t do it. I think they seem to forget that things made for squaddies need to be squaddie proof. I can just see the picture of troops needing to bug out but wait me need to do some maintenance checks first. Its meant to be a AFV not a F1 sports car.
Rant over.
My opinion is this get it fixed or bin it, the lads and lassies on the front line want something they can trust, that works first time and every time.
Agreed what a stupid idea checking it multiple times that tells me its crap and should never be brought in to service and some out of touch person with rank has this idea that soldiers in battle etc have time kerp checking a vehicle.i have a feeling Ajax will be forced on the Army while its still rubbish and they will just told get on with it as nearly always happens while some guy up top get brownie points for getting in to service.