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Britain’s $6 Billion Armored Fiasco: Ajax AFV Pulled After New Wave of Injuries

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Photo of Vlad Litnarovych
Vlad Litnarovych
News Writer
British Ajax armored vehicle. (Source: The British Army)
British Ajax armored vehicle. (Source: The British Army)

Britain’s troubled Ajax armored vehicle program is once again under scrutiny after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) suspended its use for two weeks, following a new wave of injuries among soldiers training with the platform, according to The Times on November 25.

The move comes less than a month after the Ajax fleet was declared to have achieved initial operating capability—and only weeks after UK officials insisted the vehicles had “left their shortcomings in the past.”

According to The Times, the MoD halted Ajax operations to conduct an investigation and additional testing aimed at identifying the causes of the recurring problems.

Officials say the review will determine whether and how the issues can be resolved, though defense analysts remain deeply skeptical.

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The latest suspension followed the hospitalization of roughly 30 British troops after an exercise on Salisbury Plain. Soldiers reported severe nausea after exiting the vehicles, while others were shaking so violently they “couldn’t control” their bodies, the paper said.

Defense Express, which has closely tracked the program’s long-running technical troubles, notes that vibration and excessive noise inside Ajax vehicles have been known issues for years.

Those flaws were among the major reasons the program fell so far behind schedule; Ajax was originally intended to enter service in 2017.

Yet after repeated delays, officials recently argued the vehicle family had finally overcome its defects. The fix, however, was limited: additional cushioning on the seats and issuing crews extra protective headphones.

The renewed medical incidents suggest the problem was never truly solved — and experts doubt a two-week pause will produce any meaningful breakthrough.

Compounding the concern is a recent separate report that British personnel were hospitalized during exercises involving the Ares armored personnel carrier, another vehicle built on the Ajax platform.

It remains unclear whether that case is connected to the current suspension or represents a second, unrelated incident adding to pressure on the program.

Earlier, reports emerged that the United Kingdom’s Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) received full and sustained funding to meet emerging security threats posed by increasing military cooperation between Russia and China.

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