The army’s £10m Ajax fighting vehicle was not an accident waiting to happen – but one that was already unfolding even as a defence minister declared it to be safe.
Luke Pollard, the minister responsible for procurement, asked for and was given in writing “senior assurances” that previous problems with noise and vibration had been resolved before he announced on 6 November that it was ready for use.
He also said other countries might be interested in buying what the UK government has billed as “the world’s most advanced medium-weight armoured fighting vehicle”.
Yet, barely a fortnight later, 31 troops suffered sickness and hearing issues after being deployed on the Ajax vehicles during war games on Salisbury Plain.
Also – just weeks before Mr Pollard made his announcement at a factory in Merthyr Tydfil, where the American defence company General Dynamics is manufacturing the machines – yet more soldiers had become unwell and even had to go to hospital after their time inside the vehicles.
The procurement minister and his boss, John Healey, the defence secretary, will surely be demanding answers from General Sir Roly Walker, the head of the army, as well as civil servants at the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) procurement arm – Defence Equipment and Support – and General Dynamics.
Ministers must be perplexed as to how this could possibly be happening again.
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A litany of woes affecting the £5.5bn Ajax contract has been well documented by several inquiries. They were triggered when previous trials of the vehicle were belatedly halted in 2020 after troops were harmed by excessive noise and vibration.
An investigation into that debacle found that senior officers had failed to act despite knowing for up to two years that the Ajax vehicle put soldiers at risk of harm.
The health and safety report called the failure “complex and systemic” and said a culture existed of not treating safety as being equally important to cost and time.
Read more: The Ajax fighting vehicle
Efforts were made to find a fix with better ear protection and more cushions on seats, and trials restarted.
But the fact that soldiers are still experiencing issues with hearing as well as sickness and shakes from riding inside the vehicles suggests the underlying cause has not been resolved.
Defenders of the programme say that all armoured vehicles are noisy and vibrate.
But Ajax is billed as “world-class”, with a price tag to match.
‘Debacle has been a disaster for the army’
It can’t be too much to ask that troops avoid injury inside them before ever heading towards an active frontline.
The entire debacle has been a disaster for the army which is in desperate need of new fighting vehicles after previous attempts to acquire fleets over the decades floundered as budgets were squeezed.
It is also a personal tragedy for those soldiers most severely impacted who have been left with permanent hearing damage.
Mr Pollard has moved quickly to order that all use of the Ajax be halted for two weeks after learning about the latest incident over the weekend on Salisbury Plain.
A safety investigation is being carried out.
But when a previous bout of hearing and sickness injuries during Ajax trials over the summer emerged, the MoD justified pushing on with declaring the vehicle to be operational because no “systemic” problem had been found.
If that verdict changes, the time must surely come for genuine accountability for a programme that is running years late, has cost the country billions of pounds, affected the health of soldiers and left the army without new armour at a time of growing threats.
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Commenting on what happened at the weekend, an MoD spokesperson said: “This pause underlines our absolute commitment to the safety of our personnel.
“As with any major equipment programme, we continue to test and refine the vehicle to ensure safety and performance.”
General Dynamics has been approached for comment.
