The Ministry of Defense should either fix or abandon its troubled Ajax armored vehicle program this year or risk compromising national security, an influential parliamentary committee has said.
The Ajax program, designed to provide a state-of-the-art reconnaissance vehicle for the military, has been in operation for 12 years and has cost £ 3.2 billion, but has so far failed to deliver a single deployable vehicle.
Originally scheduled to enter service in 2017, Ajax has been repeatedly delayed due to what the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has described as “a litany of failures”, including noise and vibration issues. which wounded the soldiers testing the vehicles.
In a report released on Friday, the PAC said the Ministry of Defense did not yet know when Ajax would enter service or whether noise and vibration problems could be resolved two years after they were first raised.
The PAC said program management had been “flawed from the outset” and that the Ministry of Defense had “once again made fundamental mistakes” in planning and managing a major equipment program. As a result, the committee warned that the Ministry of Defense “did not deliver” the vehicles the army needed “to better protect the nation and meet NATO commitments.”
CAP President Dame Meg Hillier said: “Enough is enough. putting pressure on older capabilities that need to be replaced and directly threaten the security of our service people and their ability to protect the nation and meet NATO commitments. “
The Ministry of Defense said that any delay would not be an additional cost to the taxpayer due to the nature of the contract, adding that no further payments will be made to the manufacturer, General Dynamics, until the department is “satisfied with the trajectory. future of the program “. ”.
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The PAC report said delays in the Ajax program had forced the military to make “operational commitments”, including prolonging the use of the Warrior armored vehicle, which entered service in 1987.
While the military is “cautiously optimistic” that Ajax could enter service by 2030, the PAC warned that any further delay would increase the risk of losing even that target and urged the Ministry of Defense to explore alternatives. in the event that the contract with General Dynamics collapses.
The Ministry of Defense has agreed a fixed price contract with General Dynamics worth £ 5.5bn for 589 Ajax armored vehicles, but so far only 26 have been delivered and can only be used for training purposes.
The PAC said it doubted the program could be delivered within existing agreements. The committee said it was awaiting a decision on whether to persevere with Ajax or leave the program altogether by the end of the year.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense said: “The United Kingdom is providing more than the strength and level of readiness required by NATO. The Secretary of Defense has made it clear that Ajax is a problematic program. ‘in line with many of the committee’s recommendations and we are actively taking steps to correct them.
“Our firm price agreement means that any delay will cost the taxpayer no more. General Dynamics has not received any payments under the contract in 2021 and 2022. No further payments will be made until we are satisfied with the future trajectory of the program.” .
General Dynamics has been contacted for comment.