Recommendation 12

Even when Ajax is finally introduced, it will not operate to its full potential without the Morpheus communications system. This will integrate Ajax across the land, air and sea domains, allowing real-time information-sharing and connectivity with other capabilities, such as Lightning II jets, on the battlefield.32 However, Morpheus has also been delayed, having originally been due by the end of 2021.33 As a consequence, Ajax will be fitted initially with Morpheus’s predecessor, Bowman, which does not have the same 21 Integrated Review Refresh 2023, P34 22 House of Commons Defence Committee, 2 November 2022, US, UK and NATO, Q275 23 C&AG’s Report, para 1.16 24 Q111; Letter from Permanent Secretary to Chair, 23 January 2023, p.3 25 Q 31 26 Qq 36–38 27 Q 104 28 Q 35 29 Committee of Public Accounts, Armoured Vehicles: the Ajax programme, Seventh Report of Session 2022–23, HC 259, June 2022 30 Q 96 31 Q 99 32 Q 105 33 Q 41 MoD Equipment Plan 2022–2032 11 integration capabilities. The Department was unable to tell us when Morpheus would enter service, but the military planning assumption is that this will be towards the end of the decade.34