Ajax on hold as 31 fall ill in major safety setback for Army's beleaguered £5.5bn AFV

The Army has halted all use of Ajax – a move sources are calling a major safety setback for the troubled programme.

It comes just days after the Ministry of Defence gave fresh assurances about the safety of the £5.5bn medium armoured vehicle, after BFBS Forces News revealed that three members of the Household Cavalry Regiment were facing medical discharge after working on the platform.

As first reported by The Times, the decision to ground the fleet was taken after 31 soldiers fell ill while deployed on Exercise Iron Fist on Salisbury Plain, having spent between 10 and 15 hours in the vehicles.

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The MOD has confirmed that some of those soldiers are still being treated by healthcare professionals.

A source told BFBS Forces News that an urgent warning was issued across the Army on Monday, known as an Electronic Safety Notice, banning all use of the vehicle for the next fortnight while an investigation is carried out.

The Ajax programme has been beset with safety issues since trials began, causing an eight-year delay to the delivery programme.

However, just three weeks ago, Defence Readiness and Industry Minister Luke Pollard told reporters that earlier issues with noise and vibration levels – which had caused injuries both during and after the trials – had been fixed and Ajax was now safe.

Mr Pollard was speaking at an event to mark Ajax achieving its Initial Operating Capability (IOC) status, meaning the platform is now officially able to be used on operations.

When asked to clarify the MOD's position on Ajax's safety record, the minister said the Government would not be awarding IOC status to "any platform that we did not think was safe for the men and women of our forces to use".

It is understood that the injuries sustained by the 31 individuals in this latest incident are noise- and vibration-related, causing personnel to vomit and shake uncontrollably.

It is on Mr Pollard's orders that personnel are now being told to stop using the vehicle.

In all, the Army will take delivery of 589 Ajax and variant vehicles by 2030. The platform is expected to remain in service for several decades.

In a lengthy statement, the MOD said safety was its priority, and that out of an abundance of caution, the Army was pausing all use of Ajax for training for two weeks while a safety investigation is carried out.