General Dynamics Land Systems–UK continue to conduct the latest AJAX Live Crew Clearance firing trials. A British Army crew has operated the CT40mm cannon & 7.62mm chain gun onboard AJAX for first time. These trials continue journey in providing initial evidence that AJAX can conduct manned firing safely. General Dynamics Land Systems–UK is delivering 589 AJAX vehicles across six variants to the British Army. Providing best-in-class protection and survivability, reliability and mobility, and all-weather Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Recognition (ISTAR), the AJAX Family of Vehicles (FoV) enable sustained, expeditionary, full-spectrum and network-enabled operations with a reduced logistics footprint. The first platforms were delivered in February 2019, with deliveries continuing until 2025.
The Ajax is manufactured and designed by General Dynamics UK and General Dynamics Santa Bárbara Sistemas (Spain), with the new turret and fire control system fitted on the Reconnaissance variant being designed and manufactured by Lockheed Martin UK. Lockheed Martin is working closely with the Defence Support Group for turret manufacture and assembly as well as Rheinmetall. 75% of turret and CT40 work will be carried out in the UK. The turret ring is 1.7 m in diameter, allowing for much more work-space than comparable AFVs. The Scout SV is also equipped with a state of the art ISTAR package with advanced sensors and space for further future growth. This advanced ISTAR package allows for automated search, tracking and detection, more than doubling stand-off range at which targets can be identified and tracked.
The Ajax has a 20 Gbit/s Ethernet intelligent open architecture, which enables it to capture, process and store six TBs of information gathered by the sensors. It can then share this data, be it images or other information, via a real-time integrated BOWMAN communication system as fitted to the Challenger 2. Power for these systems comes from a silent auxiliary power generator. 80% of the vehicle manufacture will be completed in the UK, with 70% of the supply chain companies UK-based. Five pre-production prototypes will be produced in Spain for further development and testing. The Ajax family will support 300 jobs at General Dynamics UK’s facility in South Wales and an estimated further 1000 jobs in the UK supply chain.
The Ajax, formerly known as the Scout SV (Specialist Vehicle), is a family of armoured fighting vehicles being developed by General Dynamics UK for the British Army. The Ajax is a development of the ASCOD armoured fighting vehicle used by the Spanish and Austrian armed forces. The family was originally developed by Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug and Santa Bárbara Sistemas in the early 1990s. Both companies were purchased by General Dynamics in the early 2000s. In 2010, General Dynamics UK was selected as the winner of the Future Rapid Effect System contract with the ASCOD Common Base Platform, beating BAE Systems’ CV90 proposal. The Ajax family will be procured in a number of variants, initially planned to be in blocks, with the first vehicles planned to be delivered in 2017 and full operational capability being established by 2019.
