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General Dynamics Ajax - Wikipedia
Test crews were required to wear noise cancelling headphones and be checked for hearing loss at the end of operations and the vehicles were unable to reverse over obstacles more than 20 centimetres high.[27] As of March 2021, the British Army had taken deliveries of the Ares variant, whilst 12 Ajax variants were going through acceptance testing.[28] In June 2021 it was revealed that trials of Ajax variants were halted from November 2020 to March 2021 due to excessive vibration and noise, leaving crews suffering from nausea, swollen joints and tinnitus. Test crews were then limited to 105 minutes inside and 20 miles per hour (32 km/h). The excessive vibration while moving was also damaging electronic systems and preventing armament from stabilising. Suspension faults on the Ajax variant meant that its turret could not fire while moving.[29][30] The hulls were of inconsistent lengths and had non-parallel sides, which meant that the vibration problems did not manifest in a uniform manner, making it exceedingly difficult to determine if the vibration arose from a fundamental design problem or from build quality failures.[30] A leaked report doubted whether the Ajax Armoured Vehicle programme would be delivered on time and within budget and suggested that there was a risk that the vehicles' credibility would be questioned by troops and morale impaired. General Dynamics UK refused to comment on the report.[31]
In early 2021, MPs on the Defence Select Committee issued a report critical of the state of the Army's armoured vehicle programme—including Ajax—which had spent hundreds of millions of pounds with little to show for it. Some defence experts questioned whether Ajax would ever enter service, calling it "the Army's Nimrod MRA4" (an upgrade of which never entered service and was scrapped in 2010 at a cost of £3.8bn).[31] The Times reported that in June 2021 the problems with noise and rough handling were so serious that trials involving the Ajax had been suspended. The paper quoted Francis Tusa, editor of Defence Analysis, concluding that the British Army "are spending good money after bad for something that is arguably unfixable."[32] On 20 July 2021, Minister for Defence Procurement Jeremy Quin told the Defence Select Committee that "we cannot be 100 per cent certain that [the salvation of the programme] can be achieved."[30] On 15 December 2021, Quin updated the Parliament and stated that "We are commissioning a senior legal figure to look more deeply at Ajax, and not just health and safety; to examine the cultural and process flaws that it has highlighted. We will leave no stone unturned to learn these lessons." Quin also listed four key points for the review to consider, relating to safety concerns by MoD officials that were communicated to the manufacturer.[33] In June 2022, a report by the UK Parliament's Public Accounts Committee found that delays had been caused by a "litany of failures" and advised that the Ministry of Defence needed to either resolve the problems or scrap the project, to prevent the compromising of national security.[34]
Limited User Validation Trials recommenced in October 2022, with a view to commencing Reliability Growth Trials in January 2023.[35] On 21 December 2022, the Minister of State for the Ministry of Defence, Alex Chalk, stated that these trials could last from 18 to 24 months—a period which would mean that the results of the trials would not be available until after the next UK general election.[36] Trials eventually included vehicles being tested over 42,000 kilometres (26,000 mi) of varying terrains, and the firing of 20,000 rounds from the 40 mm main armament.[6]
On 24 February 2023, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace described the programme as having "turned a corner" and being "back on track."[37] In March 2023, the MOD said that it had resumed payments to General Dynamics Land Systems UK (GDLS-UK), having halted them more than two years previously. The project has cost around £5.5bn so far, although according to the MOD "the whole programme remains within its originally approved budget level."[11]
In January 2025, deliveries of Ajax vehicles commenced to three British Army units; the Combat Manoeuvre Centre at Bovington Camp, the Queen's Royal Hussars at Tidworth Camp, and the Royal Lancers at Catterick Garrison.[10] In November 2025, the Ministry of Defence declared that "initial operating capability" (IOC) had been achieved, and that a squadron of 27 Ajax vehicles of the Household Cavalry Regiment was available for deployment.[6]
On 26th November 2025, it was reported in the British media that the Army had halted the use of Ajax vehicles "after soldiers left vomiting". According to reports, around 30 soldiers became ill during training with the vehicles. An MoD spokesman said "This weekend, a small number of soldiers reported symptoms of noise and vibration, having taken part in an exercise involving the Ajax armoured fighting vehicle. Out of an abundance of caution, the minister for defence readiness and industry has asked the Army to pause all use of Ajax for training and exercising for two weeks, while a safety investigation is carried out into the events this weekend."[8]
All trials of the Ajax armoured vehicles were paused after another soldier fell ill while riding the vehicle on 12th December. The vehicle involved in the incident was undergoing "reliability growth trials" in order to provide data for the safety investigations. This was after training and exercising of the vehicle was halted and 23 units were suspended from operations in November. These vehicles have already undergone "45-point inspections" followed by further assessment on 13 of them. The same for remaining 10 are expected to be completed. Thereafter, the results will be reported to the defence minister in the New Year who will also decide whether or when the trials should resume. Both an army investigation and a defence accident investigation branch inquiry is underway. The vehicle in the 12th December incident was not one of the 23 vehicles.[38][39][40]
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