Trials of Army's new armoured vehicles halted again

Trials of the Army's new fleet of armoured vehicles have been halted for a second time over complaints about noise affecting the crew.

The Ministry of Defence said trials of the £5.5bn Ajax Armoured Vehicle programme would be "paused" after "renewed concerns" about the issue.

Announcing the decision, defence minister Jeremy Quin described the programme as "troubled".

Labour urged the government to "get a grip on this stop-start shambles".

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) signed a contract for 589 of the Ajax armoured vehicles in 2014 and has already spent nearly £3.5bn on the flagship programme.

The vehicles, which are being assembled by General Dynamics in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, aim to be "fully digital" and provide the Army with a "family" of modern tracked armoured fighting vehicles.

A spokesman for General Dynamics UK said it was "confident in its vehicle design" and that the MoD had told the firm the pause was "temporary and precautionary".

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The MoD has launched a safety investigation, working with the company, which is set to finish at the end of next month.

Officials first halted trials in the four months to March after complaints that crews were suffering from temporary hearing loss and aching joints.

Testing resumed with "mitigations" in place in March, but it has now been paused again.

Mr Quin said: "This long-running troubled programme requires ongoing intense work by our industrial partners and ourselves to ensure its delivery.

"In achieving this, the safety of our personnel will always come first."

Labour's shadow defence secretary John Healey called on the government to ask the National Audit Office to do a special audit of the programme "to prevent billions more of taxpayer money being wasted".

He added: "Only three weeks ago, ministers assured MPs that Ajax would begin operations from next week.

"The MoD must get a grip on this stop-start shambles. Ajax is over budget, behind schedule and still not working safely."