.png)
4 days ago
13
The British army has paused the use of its Ajax armoured vehicles after troops became unwell from noise and vibration.
About 30 soldiers had become ill when training to use the vehicle over the weekend and the deployment had been halted for two weeks for an investigation, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.
The troubled programme has been beset by difficulties. The first delivery of Ajax armoured vehicles was announced earlier this month, eight years behind schedule and amid questions about their relevance as cheap drones dominate the conflict in Ukraine.
During the war games on Salisbury Plain, some soldiers emerged vomiting from the vehicles, while others were shaking so violently they could not control their bodies, the Times reported.
The MoD said that a defence minister, Luke Pollard, had subsequently asked the army to pause all use of Ajax for training and exercising for two weeks “out of an abundance of caution”.
Pollard’s intervention comes after he had claimed the £6.3bn programme had “left its troubles behind”, as Ajax declared initial operating capability.
An MoD spokesperson said: “This weekend, a small number of soldiers reported symptoms of noise and vibration, having taken part in an exercise involving the Ajax armoured fighting vehicle.”
The army “immediately stopped the exercise and proactively tested all personnel involved for symptoms”, they said. “Upon testing, around 30 personnel presented noise and vibration symptoms.”
The spokesperson added that the “vast majority” had now been cleared for duty, but a “small number of personnel continue to receive expert medical care”.
Some testing of the vehicle would continue, to ensure any issues could be identified and resolved, the MOD said.
Pollard said earlier this month that the first 50 vehicles, costing nearly £10m each, were ready to deploy on Nato’s eastern flank, though he acknowledged the problems of the past when delivery deadlines of 2017, 2020 and 2021 had all been missed.
When Ajax, an armed reconnaissance vehicle, was commissioned in 2010, it was anticipated deliveries would begin in early 2017. By the time a fixed-price £5.5bn contract was awarded to US firm General Dynamics, that had slipped to July 2020.
Initial demonstrations in 2020 and 2021 then revealed that the Ajax was plagued by excessive vibration and noise. Testing was halted after 11 soldiers had to be placed under long-term medical monitoring amid reports of tinnitus and hearing loss.
The MoD has ordered 589 Ajax vehicles and their variants, with full delivery now due to be completed at the end of the decade. Though there are a number of Ajax variants, the core vehicle is designed for forward reconnaissance.
The ministry had promoted the arrival of the vehicles earlier this month on social media, tweeting that Britain’s troops were now equipped with “the world’s most advanced, medium-weight armoured fighting vehicle”.
Prof Michael Clarke, a defence expert and former director general of the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), said that the problems surrounding the vehicle had never properly been identified and soldiers had continued to become ill, even after wearing protective equipment.
“You can’t introduce something into the battlefield if 10% of your crew are going to get ill,” he told Sky News. “This is not good news for the army. One has to hope this is only a minor problem and they can sort it out. They have to succeed because there are not other vehicles available. They don’t have the time to scrap it and start with something else.”
