$7 BILLION - Is Ajax Worth It? | Tank Chats #177

Troubled.

This is how the UK's newest armoured fighting vehicle, Ajax, has been described time and time again by the British media. With repeated delays and continual bad press, the Ajax programme has been subject to much scrutiny over the course of its procurement and development. Public opinion of this vehicle is, in a word, poor.

But is this perception wholly accurate, or is there more to the Ajax story?

In this video, David Willey guides us through the problematic history of the Ajax family, discusses its reconnaissance capabilities on the modern battlefield and hears from members of the British Army who have had a chance to put this vehicle to the test.

#tankmuseum #davidwilley

[TKSSLCHN]

As a German, I would like to thank the British armed forces and defence industry for making the Puma programme look less bad by comparison.

[skatman]

The biggest issue with British military procurement is the 2 year cycle for officers being involved. Officers in the British military are actively encouraged to make changes to their working environment and this is done via the OJAR (appraisal) system. Generally speaking, every 2 years a new Officer is appointed to a role. They come in and make changes (because their OJAR encourages it) which then leads to changing requirements and delays. The longer a vehicle is in development, the more likely new technologies appear, so those delays due to changing requirements then create new requirements based on the technology changes.

So what you end up with is a self-fulfilling circle of changes being made constantly. Military officers assigned to procurement programmes should be kept on said programme until it is delivered.

[HarduntheRanger]

"making it work" "no looking back" thats official speak for 'its shot but we're stuck with it now'

[paulg]

That Major "Simon" is hilarious. "It has had a troubled past. But we have tried to do something which hasn't been done (you know) previously, in the fact that we are trialling it, we are developing it, we are testing it..." So is he saying that ordinarily the British Army doesn't do those sorts of things at all?

Frankly no-one from the MOD should be trusted when it comes to commenting on Ajax (or any of their delayed projects). They are not going to give us an honest answer - they're just interested in covering their tracks.

[tommycooker]

£6 billion, 15 years later and still WIP? The government should really change its requirements management and procurement processes. And it is probably not containing sufficient defense against drones.

[TexasSpectre]

This smells suspiciously like the SA80/L85 program and the soldiers ordered to praise it at the time....

[akula]

As to asking a serving soldier his opinion, I’m sure he will overlook the fact that his future prospects and promotion depend upon a glowing review.

[berninator]

From a German perspective, I have to say that things were not much different for us with the SPZ Puma.
Exploding costs, a development process that dragged on endlessly due to ever new requirements and technical problems. And an army procurement office that only seems to exist to constantly come up with new and more complicated procurement processes.
And what do we have today? A monster of a machine that is praised to the skies by the crews.

On the one hand, I believe that the industry and those involved in the military need to work on creating more realistic schedules that allow for setbacks and changes in direction. On the other hand, I believe that staying power is simply part of developing something new.

[theother]

The project manager saying we must look forward and a driver saying it's more advanced than a platform designed in the 1960s doesn't feel like a ringing endorcement. It would have been nice to have someone rating it against Warrior.

[ScienceChap]

I was chatting to one of the Warrior upgrade programme engineers recently. The problem with that plan was that the work that was required for each vehicle was so massive that it was actually too expensive to upgrade the hull to fit the new turret and gun. It needed so much work to make the turret fit that it actually worked out cheaper to build a new vehicle.

[ddraig]

As someone else has already pointed out the Ajax is a very expensive version of the Ascod which seems to have been in successful service with the Spanish and Austrian armies for 20 years.

[drex]

The Bradley had a rough start but now its proven to be a fantastic bit of kit. Not saying it will be the case with AJAX as well but only time will tell

[aronjunefajardo]

Jokes aside, can you make a new set of tank chats featuring modern AFVs and IFVs?

[neilwilson]

"Just drive down that road until you get blown up, then report back" - Patton. Respect to the recce teams who risk everything.

[itsgaroo]

Big thanks to everyone working at The Tank Museum <3

[cheekeongchan]

My country used to operate the Scorpion 90 & Stormer IFV. After spending a few hundred million pounds Sterling and decades of R&D, I was surprised the UK Army chose to upgrade an existing Austrian-Spanish vehicle (ASCOD). The Army added 10 ton of equipment/armour to the 28 ton vehicle and called it Ajax. During testing, severe vibration and noise which caused permanent hearing damage to the crews was discovered. Solution was to put more cushioning in the seats/steering & issue ear plugs for the crew/infantry. Hopefully this is not the permanent solution. 😢

[thetankmuseum]

Hey Tank Nuts! We hope you enjoyed our latest video. What are your thoughts on the new Ajax armoured vehicle? Let us know below

[MostlyPennyCat]

Regardless, the CT40 autocannon they built for it is something very special indeed.
No matter its legacy, it will be with us for a very long time and hopefully be adopted by many.

[PAllen]

How can the British army spend so much and end up with such subpar kit? The whole procurement system is rotten.

[patrickkobi]

I had expected that the video would explain the cause of the well known vibration and noise problems, and what was done to fix them. In fact these problems were not discussed at all in the history of the vehicle section. Now I am not entirely convinced that they didn't just use some flimsy band aid fix to mask some more fundamental issues.