British Army’s £6bn failure suffers fresh blow as another soldier injured in vehicle tests | UK | News
The British Army’s troubled £6.3bn Ajax armored car program has suffered another major setback after a soldier suffered vibration-related injuries during tests, prompting ministers to halt all trials. Defense minister Luke Pollard announced on 18 December that trials of the General Dynamics-built Ajax had been paused indefinitely after the incident on 12 December.
The soldier reported symptoms but did not require hospitalization and is receiving medical support. In a written ministerial statement to Parliament, Mr Pollard said: “This additional report of injuries is a cause for serious concern to me. As a precaution and to ensure the safety of our staff, I have ordered a pause in all Ajax trials. This is in addition to the ongoing pause for training and exercise.”
The decision comes just weeks after 31 soldiers from the Household Hussars and Royal Lancers were injured with hearing loss, nausea and other vibration-related problems during exercises on Salisbury Plain last month. Following this incident, training and drills with Ajax were suspended indefinitely.
The latest injury occurred during limited trials aimed at fixing long-standing problems that have plagued the program since 2018. The trials were previously stopped in 2021 due to hundreds of soldiers being exposed to excessive noise and vibration.
Newly appointed National Armaments Director Rupert Pearce told MPs this week that the Ministry of Defense was “baffled” by the ongoing problems despite the vehicle having passed 42,000 miles of testing, making it “one of the most tested vehicles of all time”.
Mr Pearce said: “We’re not giving up yet.” He explained that four separate investigations are ongoing to determine the root cause. Mr Pearce warned that if the vehicle remained safe only under tight operational restrictions it could be “difficult to deploy on the battlefield” without limiting its effectiveness.
Each Ajax costs around £10 million and the intended delivery of hundreds of advanced reconnaissance vehicles has been repeatedly delayed. Suggestions for correcting vibration problems include replacing metal rails with rubber ones.
Mr Pollard had declared the vehicles safe for operations just weeks before the latest injuries, claiming the problems were “definitely a thing of the past”.
Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, stressed that providing safe equipment was a fundamental responsibility and the primary concern was the welfare of soldiers.
Ministers now face a critical decision: will they pour more money into remediations or pull the plug on the project altogether? This will risk a major talent gap for the Army.
Mr Pearce praised Ajax’s “outstanding” raw material capabilities and export potential but stressed: “We have to make sure it’s safe.”
