Recommendation 8

We questioned the Department in detail on the Ajax programme to procure armoured reconnaissance vehicles for the Army. In 2014, the Department agreed a deal with General Dynamics United Kingdom (GDUK) to procure 589 vehicles - down from an initial requirement of 761 vehicles. The Department decided to overlap the ‘demonstration’ and ‘manufacture’ stages of the programme in pursuit of savings and a quicker timetable, but this led to a 15-month renegotiation. The resultant baselining of the contract in 2019 included some concessions on capability by the Department. In April 2021, a review by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority raised serious concerns about the Department’s ability to deliver the programme.20 A significant problem facing the programme has been the discovery of noise and vibration issues adversely affecting soldiers’ health during equipment trials. The Department told us that soldiers were first reporting sick with vibration-related symptoms in the middle of 2020, and that anecdotal reports of the issue go back as far as December 2019.21 The Minister for Defence Procurement has since told Parliament that in December 2018 the Army imposed restrictions on the use of the vehicles in relation to vibration and identified that a design upgrade was needed. Although the Department’s analysis is ongoing, it has decided to offer hearing tests to 310 service personnel, while its work to establish any other vibration-related health effects is ongoing.22 Despite the length of time the Department has known about this issue, there is still no definitive information on the source of the noise and vibration.