Minister: Doubts continue over Army's troubled Ajax armoured vehicles

The Ajax was intended to be "fully digital" and provide the Army with modern armoured fighting vehicles

Defence Minister Jeremy Quin has said he "cannot 100% promise" that noise and vibration problems with the Army's new fleet of armoured vehicles can be resolved.

He told MPs the programme remains "troubled" and said he could give no deadline for issues to be sorted out.

It comes after the Ministry of Defence confirmed more than 300 soldiers are being assessed for hearing loss.

Labour said the programme is on "end of life watch".

• Army vehicle noise sees 310 soldier hearing tests

• Trials of Army's new armoured vehicles halted again

• Major design flaws in Army's new armoured vehicles

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 troubled flagship programme.

The vehicles, which are fully digital, were billed as the "next generation" of armoured vehicles but have been beset by problems.

Trials were halted in March and again in June after crews reported problems with noise and vibration.

The future of the British Army's most expensive equipment programme hangs in the balance.

Even the Ministry of Defence now calls Ajax "a troubled programme".

Some MPs think it's worse than that - only a matter of time before it has to be cancelled.

Labour says Ajax is on a death watch and someone needs to be held responsible for what's gone wrong.

The Army - never the most transparent organisation - knew of the problems with noise and vibration years ago.

Defence Minister Jeremy Quin has at least been willing to lay out the facts. By doing so he's piling on the pressure on the main contractor, General Dynamics, UK.

Mr Quin says he still hopes they will successfully complete the programme. But he's not giving any guarantees.

Nor is he willing to say how much longer he's prepared to wait.

Making a statement in the Commons, Mr Quin confirmed independent trials had resumed at the testing site, Milbrook.

He said time and space was needed to get results and data would not be available this month because "considerable work needs to be undertaken".

And he admitted that vibration concerns were raised before trials first began in 2019.

But he said he hoped issues could be rectified and the vehicles brought in to service.

An independent report by the MoD's director of health and safety would also look at the concerns raised, he added.

He said: "I have previously described Ajax as a troubled programme. It is, but that does not mean that the problems are irresolvable."

The system represents a step-change in the capabilities of the British Army, he added, but he said that ministers would "never accept a vehicle that does not meet our testing requirements" and would work with the manufacturer, General Dynamics, to fix the outstanding issues.

'Total denial'

Conservative former defence minister, Mark Francois, told the Commons Ajax is an example of why the MoD's procurement process is "completely broken".

He said that analysis of the top 36 MoD programmes showed that the Ajax programme was "red, unlikely ever to be achieved".

He said: "How many were green? Successfully on track of the 36?

"None, zero, zilch, nothing. Not one major MoD procurement programme is successfully on track.

"This is over a £100bn of British taxpayers' money."

He added: "You have got a broken system and you are in total denial. What are you going to do about it?"

Labour's shadow defence minister, John Healey, said it was a "shocking" admission that "it is not possible to determine a realistic timetable" for Ajax's introduction into service could be given.

He said that it had gone "from bad to worse" since ministers last updated MPs three months ago.

"This is a programme that has cost £3.5bn to date, delivered just 14 vehicles and is set to be completed a decade late.

"The minister's statement now puts Ajax on an end of life watch," he added.