Long-suffering Ajax IFVs, despite all previous assurances, have been grounded from use in the British Army for two weeks due to a large number of injuries among military personnel. And this is less than a month after this equipment achieved initial operational capability.
As The Times writes, the corresponding decision was made at the country's defense ministry for the duration of the investigation and additional testing. Supposedly, the causes of problems will be determined and resolved, but this is quite doubtful.
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The reason for grounding was the hospitalization of approximately 30 British servicemen after conducting exercises on Salisbury Plain. Some of them started vomiting after exiting the vehicles, while others shook so severely that they couldn't control their bodies.
Defense Express notes that problems with vibration and noise in the Ajax family have been known for a long time. Actually, this was one of the critical reasons for subsequent delays in the project, which was supposed to enter service back in 2017.
As a result, the British stated that despite past flaws, the project managed to outgrow them. True, the fix was installing additional cushions on seats together with issuing additional headphones to military personnel.
As we can see, such "half-measures" quite predictably didn't help, and as a result, during active operation, problems manifested themselves again. It's very doubtful that a solution will be found during the two-week pause.
Interestingly, it was recently reported that during exercises on the Ares APC, which belongs to the Ajax family, British servicemen were hospitalized. It’s unknown whether this is the same case or another one that contributed to the current ban.
As a result, armored vehicles ordered in 2010 are still not ready for actual battlefield use. And the question arises whether it wouldnt have been better, instead of a program for £6.3 billion, or $8.3 billion, to purchase Swedish CV90 IFVs, which are actively ordered throughout Europe.
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