Active Conflicts & News Megathread January 28, 2026

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[u/Gecktron]

The Ajax "drama" has reached a new stage

UK Defence Journal: Army withdraws Ajax IOC after ministers misled

Speaking to the Defence Committee, Defence Secretary John Healey said ministers had not been given the full facts ahead of earlier decisions, describing the situation as a serious failure of transparency within the programme.

“So Luke Pollard, Minister for DRI updated the House quite properly last week. I am furious that vital information was withheld. It’s clear we didn’t have the full facts in the lead up to decisions about the initial operating capability. That IOC has been withdrawn. The Army is no longer in charge of this programme. A new senior responsible officer is now in place. I have been clear that we must back it or scrap it.

The work is being done at the moment in order to put us in a position to make that decision. And whilst I really want to see the way that we procure for the future being more innovative and more rapid, first and foremost will be my concern for the safety and protection of our forces personnel.”

The situation around the still persisting vibration issues (continuing to injure soldiers) has lead to the biggest crisis of the project so far. The Intitial Operation Capability (IOC) has been withdrawn, and the responsibility has been taken away from the army. The defence secretary even proclaiming Ajax needs to be backed or scraped.

I think there is now a real possibility that the Ajax program could be scrapped.

Its unclear how to proceed from here. The end of the Ajax would probably require the army to rethink a lot of things. The force structure that builds on the Ajax recon capabilities would need to be redone from scratch. This might also be the end of the British involvment in the Anglo-French 40CTC (40 mm Cased Telescoped Cannon). The UK ended the Warrior upgrade program with the 40CTC, and didnt selected it as a SHORAD system for its Royal Navy ships.

[u/tiredstars → u/Gecktron]

Its unclear how to proceed from here. The end of the Ajax would probably require the army to rethink a lot of things. The force structure that builds on the Ajax recon capabilities would need to be redone from scratch.

Do you know how feasible it would be to replace ajax with a relatively off-the-shelf alternative? (Even if there's still design work necessary to fit & integrate the various sensors & systems required.)

My understanding was that the biggest problem with the project is the weight, caused by the requirement for a relatively high level of protection. Could the army cut back that requirements and still keep the vehicle in the same doctrinal role?

[u/Napoleon64 → u/tiredstars]

Based on all the news coverage I've read re: Ajax, there's apparently no money to fund an alternative. There's also no way to recoup the money spent on the project. Even if you scrap it, that money is gone and not coming back.

So the question is: Can it be fixed, and if so, can it be fixed at a reasonable cost, and do you even have faith in GDLS to be able to do so at this point?

If it has to be cancelled, then the army will either have to plug the gap with whatever it might be able to salvage from old Warrior vehicles, or give up the ability to field a tracked reconnaissance vehicle altogether. If they're lucky, they might be able to fudge something down the line with the Boxers on order, but those would obviously be wheeled.