Ajax - Program
General Dynamics Land Systems–UK is delivering 589 AJAX vehicles across six variants to the British Army. The first platforms were delivered in February 2019, with deliveries continuing until 2025. The platforms, consisting of six variants, initially planned to be delivered to the British Army between 2017 and 2024, and will serve at the heart of the Armoured Infantry Brigade structure, providing essential capability to the Armoured Cavalry within Army 2020.
The approval of Main Gate 1 Business Case (MGBC) occurred in March 2010. This established a Planning Assumption for Service Entry as Q1 2017, with 50% confidence. The contract with GDUK was signed in July 2010. The contract stated that “the system shall conform to all applicable UK and EU legislation at the time of entry into service”, and in terms of noise and vibration, this defined the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 and the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005 as the formal noise and vibration specifications for the platform.
The Main Gate 2 Business Case in July 2014 reduced the size of the programme due to budgetary pressures. On 1 September 2014, the contract was signed with GDUK to provide overlapping demonstration and manufacture phases. This approval enabled MOD to contractually lock in £600m of efficiency savings and secure a further £125m real cash discount negotiated on the assumption of a 2014 commitment. The rationale was that committing to manufacture in 2014 would de-risk delivery by incentivising GDUK to invest early in production. It should be noted that the agreed demonstration phase subsequently slipped without a corresponding slip in the manufacture phase and this further exacerbated the challenge of the concurrent manufacture and demonstration phases.
The first six Ares vehicles were delivered to the Household Cavalry Regiment at Bulford, Wiltshire. The Ajax Vehicle program will replace a range of tracked armored vehicles reaching the end of their lifecycle. During 2014 the MOD signed a £3.5 billion contract to purchase 589 Ajax vehicles (formerly known as Scout); the biggest single order for a UK armored vehicle in 30 years. The Ajax family consists of Ares a troop-carrying reconnaissance vehicle, Ajax armed with a formidable 40mm cannon, support variants Apollo and Atlas, a command and control variant Athena, and an engineer variant – Argus.
In service, AJAX was to offer best-in-class protection and survivability, reliability and mobility and all-weather intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) capabilities. Its 589 platforms, in six variants, will allow the British Army to conduct sustained, expeditionary, full-spectrum and network-enabled operations with a reduced logistics footprint. AJAX can operate in combined-arms and multinational situations across a wide-range of future operating environments.The first AJAX platform will be delivered in 2017.
In September 2014, DE&S placed a contract with General Dynamics UK for 589 Ajax. Not only will the Ajax program secure at least 1,400 jobs in the UK, it also illustrates how MOD are now working smarter to design and procure equipment. Centered on a common base vehicle that can be adapted for specific roles, Ajax ensures, thanks to the commonality of components across the fleet, and avoids a proliferation of bespoke platforms. The vehicle will give the Army enhanced intelligence, surveillance, protection, target acquisition and reconnaissance capabilities and a highly efficient 40mm cannon. It will be effective in even the most difficult terrains around the world, and removes the 40-year-old Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) from service. The first brigade is expected to be ready to deploy from the end of 2020.
The biennial Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) exhibition took place on 15-18th September 2015. The turreted AJAX prototype vehicle was unveiled and renamed by the Army at DSEI. The platform and the flagship variant of the AJAX program, is the second prototype to be unveiled by General Dynamics UK, and the first to feature the Lockheed Martin UK-developed turret, which is designed to meet the needs of the modern British soldier.
The 38 tonne AJAX platform displayed will be the ‘eyes and ears’ of the British Army on the battlefields of the future. It will be effective in the most difficult terrains around the world, providing all-weather intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) capabilities.
In December 2018, the programme was recast. ‘Recast’ refers to 15 months of negotiations to settle significant contract re-baselining activity between MOD and GDUK, which settled legacy issues linked to delays to the project. It also achieved a mutually agreed new technical baseline. It resulted in the establishment of the JPO between MOD and GDUK. The intention was to stand this up in 2020 but this was delayed due to COVID-19. It was subsequently established as a virtual team. Chief of the General Staff General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith said 16 September 2021 “we’ve got to get Ajax right – because it’s a capability gamechanger.” General Carleton-Smith said that the plans set out for the Army in the Integrated Review reflect “a changing character of war” and therefore “we are changing with it, including taking a significant bet on tech”.
He said: “Which is why what has emerged from the Review is a sharper, harder and more dangerous Army; a more dynamic and active global posture that leverages our network of overseas training hubs and delivers a more persistent international presence. And that means an Army that is more expeditionary and more rapidly deployable, with an emphasis on logistic sustainment; an Army that is more digitally connected and networked, and an Army that’s more specialist; and an Army that when it fights is more lethal, more mobile and much better protected.”
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