UK’s Ajax vehicle program now on track after noise, vibration issues

LONDON — The British Army’s troubled effort to acquire reconnaissance armored vehicles is back on track, with the Ajax program now scheduled to achieve initial operating capability by December 2025, the Defence Ministry said in a statement to Parliament on March 20.

The Ajax vehicle is a key element in the Army’s desire to field a deep reconnaissance strike brigade and two armored brigade combat teams. The platform is to reach full operational capability by September 2029, Defence Procurement Minister Alex Chalk told lawmakers in a written statement.

The General Dynamics UK-made vehicle is years behind schedule . The company and the ministry sought to fix noise and vibration problems that had led to the abandonment of trials and the injury of soldiers on the Ajax and its support variants.

The government defines initial operating capability as the ability to operate and sustain a squadron of 50 vehicles in the field for six months.

An initial £480 million (U.S. $584 million) manufacturing payment to General Dynamics, withheld by the MoD since 2020, is now being handed over to the company as payments for the fixed-price deal resume. Much of that cash was spent manufacturing and assembling Ajax vehicles at a General Dynamics plant in Spain and in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.

To date, 143 vehicles were substantially completed, with 416 hulls ready and awaiting further assembly work. About 120 turrets housing a new 40mm cannon are also complete. The turrets are being installed on the Ajax version of the platform.

The Ajax family of vehicles covers six variants built to four different design standards, including engineering and armored personnel, among other specialist types.

“The MoD have developed with General Dynamics a revised schedule for the delivery of vehicles that is, subject to contract amendment, robust, realistic, and achievable,” Chalk told Parliament.

The £5.5 billion program to develop and build 589 Ajax vehicles was agreed by General Dynamics and the MoD in 2014 after the company was downselected ahead of BAE Systems’ CV90 for the assessment phase as far back as 2010.

The original forecast for initial operating capability was set for 2017, but later reset to 2021 as the program ran into problems. The new date is four years behind the previous revised schedule, but is considerably increased in scope, as it doubles the number of vehicles involved in the initial operating capability and the platforms will meet a fresher design standard.

Until recently lawmakers and others were calling for the program to be canceled, with Ajax becoming the poster child for wider procurement problems suffered by the ministry. Those problems appear to be finally behind the vehicle, which is undergoing reliability growth trials after successfully completing user validation assessments.

Parliamentarians were told the growth trials were progressing well and had not generated fundamental design issues.

Andrew Chuter is the United Kingdom correspondent for Defense News.

伦敦——英国国防部3月20日向议会发表声明称，英国陆军采购侦察装甲车的艰难计划已重回正轨，Ajax计划预计将于2025年12月实现初始作战能力。

阿贾克斯装甲车是陆军组建一支纵深侦察打击旅和两支装甲旅战斗队的关键组成部分。国防采购部长亚历克斯·查克在一份书面声明中告诉议员们，该平台将于2029年9月达到全面作战能力。

英国通用动力公司制造的这款车辆已经比原计划晚了数年。该公司和国防部曾试图解决噪音和振动问题，这些问题导致试验中止，并造成“阿贾克斯”及其支援型车辆上的士兵受伤。

政府将初始作战能力定义为在野外操作和维持一个由 50 辆车辆组成的飞行中队六个月的能力。

英国国防部自2020年以来一直扣留着应付给通用动力公司的4.8亿英镑（约合5.84亿美元）制造款项，如今随着固定价格合同款项的恢复支付，这笔款项已陆续支付给该公司。这笔款项的大部分用于在通用动力公司位于西班牙和威尔士梅瑟蒂德菲尔的工厂生产和组装Ajax装甲车。

截至目前，已有143辆车辆基本完工，416个车体已准备就绪，等待进一步组装。约120座装有新型40毫米火炮的炮塔也已完成。这些炮塔正在安装在“阿贾克斯”型平台上。

Ajax 系列车辆涵盖六种型号，按照四种不同的设计标准制造，其中包括工程和装甲人员等专业类型。

“国防部与通用动力公司共同制定了一份修订后的车辆交付计划，该计划在合同修改的前提下，是稳健、现实且可实现的，”查克向议会表示。

这项耗资 55 亿英镑的研发和制造 589 辆 Ajax 战车的计划，是通用动力公司和英国国防部在 2014 年达成的协议。早在 2010 年，通用动力公司就从 BAE 系统公司的 CV90 战车手中脱颖而出，进入了评估阶段。

最初预计初始作战能力实现时间为2017年，但由于项目遇到问题，后来推迟到2021年。新的日期比之前的修订计划晚了四年，但规模大幅扩大，因为初始作战能力涉及的车辆数量翻了一番，而且平台将符合更新的设计标准。

直到最近，议员和其他人士还在呼吁取消该项目，Ajax 也因此成为该部门采购问题的一个典型案例。不过，这些问题似乎终于解决了，这款车辆在成功完成用户验证评估后，目前正在进行可靠性增长试验。

议员们被告知，生长试验进展顺利，没有出现根本性的设计问题。

Andrew Chuter 是《防务新闻》的英国记者。