Recommendation 4

Nearly two years after identifying injuries to soldiers, the Department still does not know how to fix the noise and vibration problems. General Dynamics must produce vehicles that are safe and has proposed modifications to reduce noise and vibration levels. The Department has commissioned trials to test the efficacy of these modifications. It intends to analyse test data and better understand how things works in practice before accepting General Dynamics’ solutions. The Department has also found that the headsets worn by crews—which the Army uses on all armoured vehicles—did not provide expected levels of protection. It will start upgrading its headsets from August 2022. It does not expect to make decisions on noise and vibration issues—and how to move the programme forward—until late 2022, more than two years since it first identified potential injuries to soldiers. It remains unclear whether the proposed modifications—which seek to reduce the impact on crews—will be effective or whether a more fundamental redesign of the vehicles is required. This could have significant implications for the programme because General Dynamics had built 324 hulls by December 2021. In addition, the Department cannot be confident that the programme will not encounter further technical or safety issues. It has proven only 30% of technical requirements so far and is tracking 136 ‘concerns’. Recommendation: As a matter of the utmost urgency, the Department must establish whether noise and vibration issues can be addressed by modifications or whether they require a fundamental redesign of the vehicle. If the latter, the Armoured Vehicles: the Ajax programme 7 Department must decide whether the right course is to proceed with General Dynamics or if it should opt for an alternative. We will expect an update on this when we next take evidence and an answer by December 2022.