The British Army’s been left humbled after it was revealed that the development of its latest high-tech Ajax tank is running 12 years behind schedule – despite costing the taxpayer £5.5 billion.
While the next-generation tank was meant to enter service in 2017, the rollout has been delayed several times after soldiers reported major flaws including noise and vibration issues that caused injuries.
The 589 tanks ordered by the Ministry of Defence from weapons manufacturer General Dynamics Land Systems UK are expected to be ready by 2029, The Guardian reported.
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The MoD previously had to suspend its payments to GDL more than two years ago, but today (March 20) said it would be handing the company £480 million to continue its development.
Despite all the flaws in the Ajax programme, the UK’s defence procurement minister, Alex Chalk, said in a written statement to MPs that GDL had the full confidence of the MoD.
“Restarting payments to General Dynamics reflects the fact that the programme continues to return to a firm footing and supports the delivery of the schedule to deliver operational capability,” he wrote.
The National Audit, the UK’s public spending watchdog, said earlier this month that the army’s current stock of armoured vehicles are ageing, causing maintenance costs to rise.
It added that the programme’s approach was flawed from the start and they did not fully understand the scale or complexity of Ajax.
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Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: "Having worked closely with General Dynamics to address the issues, I am pleased to say that we are making progress and are now on course to see the delivery of a suite of hundreds of battle-ready vehicles for the British Army."
John Healey, the shadow defence secretary, called the Tory government out for wasting taxpayer money on a project that wouldn’t be ready by the end of the decade.
“The defence secretary has made Ajax central to the future of the army and the UK’s ability to fulfil our Nato obligations, yet after 13 years and £4bn investment the army has still not got a single deployable vehicle,” he said.
“It is clear the government can’t deliver value for public money or the equipment our forces need to fight. Ministers are failing British taxpayers and British troops.”
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