Ajax vehicles delivered with armour and weapon upgrades to the British Army

The British Army is now fielding 43 operationally ready Ajax armoured vehicles, delivered with incremental upgrades following a recent capability drop.

The Ajax advanced, fully digitised, land vehicle system, which comes in six variants for different roles, is not being delivered in a complete platform but instead given in a series of batches while upgrades and improvements are made over time.

The latest upgrades include enhancements to armour, the weapon system, communications, mobility and signature reduction.

• Get up close and personal with the British Army's new Ajax armoured vehicle
• Army's new Ajax continues brutal testing regime before hundreds go into service
• Inside factory where production lines are running hot to build Army's long-awaited Ajax

"We're delivering the vehicle in a series of increasingly more capable capability drops," said Ajax programme director Colonel Jamie Hayward.

"We've got 43 vehicles currently fielded in the Army in that configuration. We'll carry on building that for the next few years.

"The next key milestone is we're due to hit our initial operating capability (IOC) of a trained deployable and sustainable squadron between July and December next year."

Reportedly, 152 Ajax vehicles have been built and make up only a quarter of the planned total fleet number.

While Capability Drop Three is on track, the Ajax programme has encountered problems, including the loud noise of the vehicle and its effects on the operators, and the integration of the turret.

Each capability drop introduces new features or upgrades to the respective military equipment.

Col Hayward said: "So, the Capability Drop One vehicles have been in service with the Household Calvary, 6 Battalion REME and the training schools for about 18 months now.

"They're now being brought back off the Army and we're delivering Capability Drop Three vehicles, this is the fully operational deployable vehicles."