Ajax situation worsens as another soldier falls ill while operating embattled vehicle

The crisis surrounding Ajax, the British Army's new £5.5bn armoured fighting vehicle, worsened on Thursday as the Ministry of Defence announced that a further soldier had been injured while operating the vehicle.

Three weeks ago, Defence Readiness and Industry Minister, Luke Pollard, issued an Army-wide order banning all training and exercising on Ajax, while permitting the continued use of the vehicle for trial purposes.

In the wake of the latest injury, Mr Pollard has now expanded that order to include those involved in what the MOD calls 'Reliability Growth Trials' (RGT), effectively meaning that all Ajax platforms – across the board – are now off limits to personnel.

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In a written statement to MPs, the minister said the injured soldier had been operating the vehicle at Bovington Camp in Dorset, where RGT activities routinely take place.

In what will be a blow to the safety reviews into Ajax – launched after 31 soldiers fell ill while using the vehicle on Salisbury Plain at the end of November – the injured soldier was operating Ajax with the aim of providing data to help inform those investigations.

In the statement, Mr Pollard said: "This additional report of an injury is a serious concern to me, so, out of an abundance of caution, and to ensure the safety of our personnel, I have directed a pause on all Ajax trials. 

"This is in addition to the ongoing pause for training and exercising. 

"The pause to the trials will allow time for the individual's symptoms to be investigated and for the vehicle to be thoroughly inspected. In the new year, I will assess if trials can be restarted."

The latest setback calls into question how programme officials came to conclude that the vehicle had reached its Initial Operating Capability (IOC) – declared by the MOD at the start of November.

At an event to mark that milestone, Mr Pollard told reporters – including from BFBS Forces News – that the problems surrounding noise and vibration, which had delayed Ajax's entry into service by several years, had been fixed, and that the vehicle was safe.

Yet within days, it emerged that personnel in the Household Cavalry Regiment were facing medical discharge due to injuries linked to Ajax. This was followed by the Salisbury Plain incident, in which 31 soldiers fell ill while operating 23 vehicles.

It was initially hoped that a safety review into the Salisbury Plain incident would conclude within two weeks, but Mr Pollard has now confirmed it will not report back until the New Year.

That review will sit alongside two others: one examining the wider Ajax programme and safety concerns, and a third looking into why Army officials – including the head of the British Army, General Sir Roly Walker – gave written assurances to ministers that Ajax was safe ahead of the awarding of IOC status.