Recommendation 2

The Department has once again made fundamental mistakes in its planning and management of a major equipment programme. Ajax’s design is based on a pre-existing vehicle, but the Department’s 1,200 capability requirements meant that, in effect, it was developed from scratch. However, the Department and General Dynamics did not fully understand the complexity and challenges of this hybrid approach and did not manage design changes effectively. The Department says it has reviewed its approach to requirement setting and now only approves programmes with a reasonable number of requirements, such as the 150 to 200 for the purchase of Boxer armoured personnel carriers and the upgraded Challenger tanks. Ajax’s problems were exacerbated by inadequate governance and programme management failures. The current senior responsible owner, appointed in October 2021, is the first to be full-time, but even he has additional corporate roles and responsibilities. The programme’s reset in 2018 introduced greater complexity and the revised programme schedule was unrealistic. While the profile of upfront investment before large-scale manufacture is unsurprising, the increased overlap of the demonstration and manufacturing phases means that unresolved technical and safety issues have remained whilst production continues. In response to these problems, the Department has commissioned a QC-led Ajax Lessons Learned Review into how it can deliver major programmes more effectively, including sharing and escalating information. Recommendation: Once the Ajax Lessons Learned Review has reported, the Department should write to the Committee setting out how it will incorporate 6 Armoured Vehicles: the Ajax programme the recommendations into its future management of equipment programmes – considering the findings and recommendations of our and the NAO’s reports – to prevent this familiar list of mistakes being repeated yet again.