In 2010, General Dynamics UK was selected as the winner of the Future Rapid Effect System contract with the ASCOD Common Base Platform, beating BAE Systems' CV90 proposal. The Ajax vehicles were to be procured in a number of variants, initially planned to be in blocks, with the first vehicles planned to be delivered in 2017. Delays meant that as of January 2020, initial operating capability was expected in July 2020.[7]
In November 2020, trials were halted over excessive noise and vibration. In September 2021 Jeremy Quin, Minister for Defence Procurement, in a written response stated that dynamic testing and training on Ajax was suspended and that "it is not possible to determine a realistic timescale for the introduction of Ajax vehicles into operational service".[8] Limited trials resumed in October 2022, with extended trials to last possibly until early 2025.
In a statement in March 2023, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) said that full operating capability was expected between October 2028 and September 2029, when the army has trained and converted forces to the vehicle.[9]
Development
Rear view of Ajax variant in October 2016
The Ajax has its origins in the Future Rapid Effect System programme going back to the 1990s when the joint UK/USA TRACER programme was cancelled. The purpose of the FRES programme was to find a replacement for the British Army's Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) (CVR(T)) family of vehicles, which have been in service from 1971. General Dynamics UK won the contract in March 2010 after years of competition from BAE Systems. After the Ministry of Defence had selected the ASCOD 2 Common Base Platform, BAE tried to reverse the decision by offering to manufacture the CV90 at their Newcastle facility. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Defence awarded General Dynamics a £500 million Demonstration Phase contract. General Dynamics has conducted design review work using the input of soldiers and bringing the ASCOD 2 Chassis in line with the British requirements.
The Ajax programme passed the "Preliminary Design Review" (PDR), initial design point in December 2012. At this stage of development, system maturity and preliminary system design were reviewed. In late 2013, the "Common Base Platform Critical Design Review" (CDR) was completed and development continued. In June 2014, the Protected Mobility Reconnaissance Support (PMRS) variant of the Scout Family officially completed its CDR. A "Mobile Test Rig", the precursor to a prototype, which had been undergoing rigorous testing including cold weather and Operational and Tactical (O&T) mobility trials, as well as Accelerated Life Testing (ALT), completed system de-risking. At the DVD exhibition in 2014, the first pre-production prototype of the PMRS variant was unveiled, built at General Dynamics' facilities in Spain.
Initially, the Ajax was to be procured in a number of blocks totalling 1,010 vehicles. The first order of Block 1 vehicles encompassed Scout Reconnaissance, PMRS APC, and Repair and Recovery variants, with a following order of Block 2 to consist of Reconnaissance, C2, and Ambulance variants. There was a possibility for a third Block of vehicles encompassing a "Direct Fire" vehicle with a 120 mm main gun, "Manoeuvre Support", and a "Joint Fires" variant equipped to succeed the FV102 Striker in the anti-tank role. However, in September 2014, Block 3 vehicles were dropped and the Ministry of Defence had "no plans" to order any Block 2 vehicles.[citation needed]
On 3 September 2014, the British Government ordered 589 Scout SV vehicles, totalling a cost of £3.5 billion excluding VAT. A number of Block 2 variants were merged into the Block 1 order.
Pre-production prototype of the Ares (PMRS variant)
Deliveries to the British Army began in 2017; the last deliveries were scheduled for around 2026.[13]
In July 2015, the Ministry of Defence concluded their study into having final assembly of the Scout SV vehicles take place in the UK rather than General Dynamics' primary production facility in Spain. There was a business case for UK final assembly and testing. As part of a £390 million maintenance package running until 2024, General Dynamics moved production of the last 489 vehicles to Britain.[14] General Dynamics bought a former forklift factory in Pentrebach in South Wales to assemble the Scout SV.[15]Thales UK won the sight system contract for the Scout family, safeguarding engineering and manufacturing jobs at their site in Scotland.[16]
In early August 2015, Rheinmetall of Germany was contracted to manufacture the Scout SV turrets.[17]Meggitt was to manufacture the Scout SV ammunition handling system.[18]
On 15 September 2015, Scout was renamed Ajax.[19] The name Ajax applies to the family as a whole, but also to the turreted variant specifically. The reconnaissance support variant was named Ares after the Greek god of war; the command-and-control variant was named after Athena; the equipment repair vehicle was named Apollo; the equipment recovery variant was named Atlas; and the engineering reconnaissance variant was named Argus.[19]
In April 2016, the main cannon and chain gun were fired successfully.[20] In December 2016 manned firing tests of the three machine guns which can be fitted to the Ares vehicle were successfully carried out.[21]
Design
Ajax prototype in March 2016
The Ajax is manufactured and designed by General Dynamics UK and General Dynamics Santa Bárbara Sistemas (Spain), with the new turret and fire control system fitted on the Reconnaissance variant being designed and manufactured by Lockheed Martin UK. Lockheed Martin is working closely with the Defence Support Group for turret manufacture and assembly as well as Rheinmetall. 75% of turret and Case Telescoped Armament System 40 (CTAS40) cannon work will be carried out in the UK. The turret ring is 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in) in diameter, allowing for much more work-space than comparable AFVs. The Scout SV is also equipped with a state of the art ISTAR package with advanced sensors and space for further future growth. This advanced ISTAR package allows for automated search, tracking and detection, more than doubling stand-off range at which targets can be identified and tracked.
The Ajax has a 20 Gbit/s Ethernet intelligent open architecture, which enables it to capture, process and store six TBs of information gathered by the sensors. It can then share this data, be it images or other information, via a real-time integrated Bowman communication system as fitted to the Challenger 2. Power for these systems comes from a silent auxiliary power generator.[citation needed]
Eighty per cent of the vehicle manufacture will be completed in the UK, with 70% of the supply chain companies UK-based.[citation needed] The Ajax family project supports 400 jobs at General Dynamics UK's two facilities at Merthyr Tydfil and Oakdale in South Wales, and an estimated further 4,000 jobs in the British supply chain.[22]
Project progress
Ordered in 2014, the first delivery was scheduled for 2017, while it was stated that the first British Army squadron "will be equipped by mid-2019" so that they could be deployed by the end of 2020.[21] This was delayed due to design and testing problems. 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 centimeters high.[23] As of March 2021, the British Army had taken deliveries of the Ares variant, whilst 12 Ajax variants are going through acceptance testing.[24] 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 turrets could not fire while moving.[25][26] The hulls were of inconsistent lengths and had non-parallel sides, which means the vibration problems do not manifest in a uniform manner, making it exceedingly difficult to determine if vibration is from a fundamental design problem or build quality failures.[26] 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.[27]
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).[27]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".[28] 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".[26] 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.[29] 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.[30]
Limited User Validation Trials recommenced in October 2022, with a view to commencing Reliability Growth Trials in January 2023.[31] 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 that would mean the results of the trials would not be available until after the next UK General Election.[32]
On 24 February 2023 Defence Secretary Ben Wallace described the programme as having "turned a corner" and being "back on track".[33]
In March 2023 the MOD said 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".[9]
