UK Gov and MoD don't like off-the-shelf solutions which are successfully deployed by other forces. Even when they do decide to buy existing products they often tweak the spec. to get their own bespoke design. The fact that something might have thousands of in-use, in-theatre hours won't stop them from insisting on it being put through months of testing. I worked on project which used vehicles deployed by other EU forces and we still had to spend a fortnight at Millbrook (plus the cost/time to write requirements and test procedcures) to show they met condtions which they were already exceeding in the field.

There's an army of bureaucrats working for MoD, DE&S and the usual hangers-on like CRAPITA and they need to be fed and watered.

That is because UK forces are asked to perform multiple roles without the commensurate funding. Specifications are therefore adjusted to "maximise" capabilities, but ultimately they make the procured kit expensive to buy and maintain.

FSD supplied by Tesla

"Troublesome" if it's not, then it's not British.

And the CV90, while Swedish, is now owned by British megacontractor BAE Systems

Many of those with better knowledge of the requirements and of the available products have backed the Boxer, not the CV90.

The reputation of the UK’s defence manufacturing industry has been destroyed by just one equipment programme, AJAX.

When one considers that the AJAX prime contractor was contracted to deliver armoured fighting vehicles that are fit for purpose, adequately sustained in-service and constitute value for money, its record of performance on this programme cannot be described as anything other than a spectacular failure, given that it has been plagued by endless delays and cost overruns brought about, in the main, by the contactor’s inability to solve technical problems and complete basic engineering tasks.

The reputational damage is huge. The negative stories about this equipment programme reported in the national and international press & media week after week, month after month, and year after year has ensured that it will never gain an export customer – no foreign government will touch it, ever! What’s more, it is certain that the prime contractor will not get a defence contract from the UK government for at least a generation, perhaps more.

The story of the AJAX procurement programme is one of gross incompetence, chronic mismanagement and extremely poor workmanship. Successive governments have given the prime contractor countless opportunities to get this programme back on track, but it has squandered them all. Enough is enough. This new armoured vehicle may be making its occupants sick, but taxpayers are sick and tired of funding an equipment programme that has failed to deliver even a single fully compliant vehicle after all these years.

The sheer incompetence of people in government who negotiated and signed this equipment procurement contract, that is to say, the governing elite, their special advisers, senior civil servants, army top brass and frontline procurement officials, knows no bounds. As for the contractor, it is more interested in extracting the maximum amount of money it can from HM Treasury than supplying equipment to the armed forces that is fit-for-purpose, adequately sustained in-service and constitutes value for money through-life.

The AJAX procurement programme is a classic example of state failure – it fails to achieve what it set out to achieve.

What the government does not want to admit is that, sooner or later, termination of this programme is a dead certainty, not least because it has only succeeded in destroying the careers of young soldiers on the grounds of poor health. What’s more, the British Army has been left short of vital equipment that was supposed to form the centrepiece of its future force structure organised around STRIKE brigades.

It has come to this sad end because the military elite is stuck in the mindset of the distant past, behaving as if the means of defence production, distribution and exchange is in the hands of the State which they can commandeer at will to serve their ends, when in fact, it is wholly owned by private interests – that is to say, the State is completely dependent on the private sector for the design, development, manufacture, delivery and sustainment of new military equipment for the armed forces.

They might very well experts in deterring, outwitting and killing the enemy, but these people haven’t got a clue about how the private sector works, what incentivises it or how to harness its creative energy and problem-solving capabilities to realise their doctrinal vision of establishing a fighting force that can counter evolving threats in the Euro-Atlantic region.

Over the years, they have developed a habit of fantasizing about their grandiose military postures in isolation, without having an adequate understanding of how to make it happen, which makes it easy for defence contractors to ruthlessly exploit their ignorance and relieve them of taxpayers’ money – which is exactly what has happened on AJAX.

This outcome is not entirely surprising. After all, these self-serving elites have spent their entire professional lives in the ivory towers of the public sector, completely insulated from the real world outside.

There is a school of thought in the centre of government that, if it doesn’t start a new equipment procurement programme, then the risk of delays and cost overruns is cut down to zero!

AJAX is built in Spain by an American defence company, General Dynamics. It's given a final fitting out of the interior in a GD owned plant in Wales, but the problems are believed to be related to poor design engineering, appalling quality control of the hull and mechanical bits, and foot dragging inaction by GD before the vehicles reach the UK. There's not a lot of "UK defence manufacturing industry" involved in this.

As already alluded to, this was an "existing design" - but as is usual, everyone with a bit of gold braid on their uniform wanted "a minor tweak" to suite they preferences. Consequently, what was ordered didn't really reflect the "already in use" design.

To compound the problem, there's a long standing problem where the project teams are staffed by civil servants - who have been subject to a long term embitterment program by successive governments where people who really should know better are happy to diss civil servants at every opportunity, and of course, arbitrarily restrict pay. As a result, they made being a civil servant a less and less attractive career choice - choose between the private sector, or earning a lot less while being labelled as public enemy by politicians. And don't get me started on the red tops who seem happy to slag off all civil servants - something that it seems is never challenged by the higher ups.

Of note, in defence, there are multiple grades which now get 2 annual pay rises - one when the pay rises come round, another when the minimum wage goes up and pay rates have to be increased to make them legal. The next grade up is only a couple of year from being the same.

As a result, it's harder and harder to attract and retain people who understand what they are doing. Ajax is a prime example of this - there was no-one in the delivery team who was SQEP on noise and vibration, so no-one with the knowledge and skills to challenge incorrect information provided by the contractor. This was compounded by a failure of management to temporarily bring in the right people - in part because that would have needed (temporarily) additional people on the team when there was probably a freeze on recruitment (so the experts were probably too busy anyway.)

Now, things are so bad that all travel & training is banned until the end of the financial year - unless it's "really essential" or you can do it free (including taking your own butties instead of claiming an allowance for subsistence.) I foresee some problems when meetings don't happen, and problems fail to get noticed ...

since when has any MOD procurement arrived on time or anywhere near on budget?

2035?

Why not say, 2040 and be done with it (if there is a world left after Trump has finished destroying it..)

In that case, ordering more Typhoons a virtual no brainer but who ever said that MOD/PE had brains in the first place.

I say the Brits have gone crazy if they are buying US jets instead of Euro ones. I'd not trust a single thing from the US for at least a decade of MAGA's in jail to show we(the US) have figured out they are AHoles. In particular, those proud boy ICE guys at Gitmo for their deeds.

Defence procurement in the UK is run by the old boys network.

There is also total hatred of anything that does not meet the exact UK defence standards (Joint Service Publications, Design Maintenance Guides TS PETs and all the other alphabetti spaghetti that the military loves. I've seen this go down as far as changing the specification of nuts, bolts and washers and even the paint colour on a specific project.

I've also recently seen two fuel infrastructure projects, one of which has had to be demolished and started again almost from scratch having been given to a contractor with no relevant experience (but they were cheap!) That's £4M down the drain plus the cost to rebuild so probably nearer £9M.

The other of which was lacking design calculations, equipment data sheets and has also suffered from excessive noise levels meaning that the operators have to wear ear defenders when using the plant. This one has cost over £5m and 18 months after construction is still not operational needing extensive modifications to pipework, fume extraction and ergonomic aspects.

My company has recently been replaced as a supplier on certain contracts by a government agency which employs several ex-military people who have a direct line into senior Defence Infrastructure Organisation people. This despite the end user stating that they are more than happy with our service and costs, and that "agency" replacing us is less capable and more expensive, but there are certain regimental tie wearers involved.

You could call this sour grapes, but I've given up caring as I currently have sufficient work for the next 12 months.

The "old boy network" decision would have been to buy the CV90, owned by well established British defence contractor BAE and built in their plant in Sweden. However, there was a perception within the MoD that too much work was going to one company so for AJAX the attitude, according to insiders, was "anyone but BAE".

As a result it went to General Dynamics, an American company without a strong foothold in the British armoured vehicle defence market, and who would build the vehicle in their plant in Spain.

This fiasco is very much the product of "the new boy" in the British defence market.

How many hits by a cheap fibre-controlled drone would they survive?

It was to suck up to the USA. It was not 'necessary' to buy this.

>> the Senior Responsible Owner of the Ajax program has been removed

They will be shuffled into another job and get a gong eventually. There is no chance this person will ever be held to account.

The guy in charge is literally a Rupert.

Nuff said.