UK Ministry of Defence Suspends Ajax Fighting Vehicles After Troops Suffer Noise and Vibration Injuries
- MM24 News Desk
- 59 minutes ago
- 3 min read
The British Army has suspended all operations of its troubled Ajax fighting vehicles after approximately 30 personnel developed noise and vibration-related symptoms during a recent training exercise. The decision by Defence Procurement Minister Luke Pollard comes just days after the program declared initial operating capability, marking another setback for the £5.5 billion program that has been plagued by problems for years.
The suspension follows Exercise Iron Fist on Salisbury Plain, where soldiers spent between 10 and 15 hours inside the tracked vehicles. A Ministry of Defence spokesperson confirmed that while the "vast majority" of affected personnel have been medically cleared, others "continue to receive expert medical care." This two-week pause will allow for a safety investigation while limited testing continues to identify and resolve the persistent issues.
What makes this latest development particularly alarming is that these problems are far from new. Back in 2021, a damning report from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) described the Ajax program as being in crisis, specifically highlighting excessive noise and vibration issues. The report posed two fundamental questions that remain relevant today: "Whether the vehicle can be fixed, and whether it is worth saving."
The vibration problems stem from multiple sources, including quality control issues during hull fabrication by manufacturer General Dynamics Land Systems UK (GDLUK). According to the RUSI analysis, these vibrations prevent the main 40mm cannon from stabilizing while moving, damage critical electronic systems, and cause components like idler and rear road wheels to shear off "with concerning regularity." For crews, the effects are both physically damaging and operationally debilitating.
Noise presents another critical challenge. The integration of Bowman headsets with the vehicle's communication system amplifies engine noise directly into crew members' ears. While theoretically easier to fix than structural vibration issues, the fact that this problem persists years after identification raises serious questions about testing and quality assurance processes throughout the program's development.
The timing couldn't be worse for the British Army, which declared initial operating capability for Ajax earlier this month after numerous delays. The program was originally expected to achieve this milestone in 2017, but technical problems pushed it back repeatedly until the November 2025 declaration. Even now, with 165 vehicles delivered out of a planned 589, fundamental safety issues remain unresolved.
Defence Procurement Minister Luke Pollard had confidently stated just weeks ago that "After all the problems [Ajax] may have had in the past, we have put those to bed now." The latest suspension clearly demonstrates that the vehicle's core issues remain very much alive. The minister now faces the challenge of explaining how a vehicle declared operationally capable days earlier requires immediate suspension due to safety concerns that have been documented since at least 2018.
The Ajax represents the British Army's first new tracked armored fighting vehicle in almost 30 years, intended to replace aging platforms like the FV432 from the 1960s. Selected in 2010 as the winner of the Future Rapid Effect System contract, the vehicle based on the ASCOD 2 platform was supposed to modernize the Army's reconnaissance capabilities. Instead, it has become a case study in procurement challenges.
Complicating matters further, the battlefield has evolved significantly since the program's inception. The rise of drone warfare presents new threats that the current Ajax configuration appears unprepared to handle. While the Ministry of Defence claims the vehicle's armor can protect against some kamikaze drones, officials admit the vehicles still lack electronic countermeasures essential for modern survivability.
Despite these challenges, Minister Pollard recently suggested deploying Ajax to future NATO missions, including potentially in Ukraine pending ceasefire agreements. "When we have the ability to deploy incredibly capable platforms like Ajax and the brilliant men and women trained to use it to its fullest effect," he told Sky News, "there's a clear
opportunity for us to be able to enhance NATO's capabilities on the eastern flank."
With the program's future now in serious doubt, the British Army faces difficult decisions about whether to continue investing in fixes or cut losses on the troubled platform. As soldiers continue to experience physical harm from simply training with the vehicle, the fundamental question remains: can Ajax be transformed from a liability into the capable fighting vehicle the Army desperately needs?