Exclusive: Ajax tank maker handed £12m from MoD despite trial pause
The company behind the failed Ajax tank was paid more than £12m in the period trials were paused, City PM can reveal, laying bare the scale of dysfunction inside national defence procurement.
General Dynamics continued to receive taxpayer cash in the period between late November and this week, the time where the government intervened to pause trials for the multi-billion pound armoured vehicle programme, according to data obtained.
The bulk of General Dynamics’ recent income from the Ministry of Defence came in January for construction as well as research spending for the department.
Payments to the firm were suspended for 27 months when trials were paused between 2020 and 2023 due to safety failures, but the MoD has continued to pay General Dynamics in the past three months.
The US defence giant, whose British subsidiary company is headquartered in Wales, has come under fire over its delivery of tanks that have left dozens of soldiers sick due to excessive noise and vibration.
Trials for Ajax were paused last November and ministers launched an investigation into the £6.3bn programme. Defence procurement minister Luke Pollard said findings revealed symptoms were caused by both technical issues as well as training and environmental conditions.
The payments raise deeper questions over the government’s relations with the defence industry and how procurement rules are devised, with Sir Keir Starmer’s Defence Investment Plan yet to provide details on how Labour hopes to upgrade the armed forces.
‘Phased and controlled approach’
The vehicles are manufactured in south Wales. Questions over Ajax have prompted concern among some MPs that jobs could be under threat in the region. Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former army director, has backed the Ajax programme and said they were crucial for the UK’s war preparedness.
Other MPs, including Labour’s John Spellar and Chris Evans, have questioned whether “enough is enough” and that the government should intervene on the “fundamental problems” of the programme.
Testing resumed this week in a “phased and carefully controlled approach”, as General Dynamics put it.
The firm came under greater scrutiny after a manager, Bob Skivington, appeared to mock troops for “incompetence”.
The overall programme has faced repeated issues since a contract was first awarded in 2010 for the high-technology tanks.
Small numbers of vehicles were delivered in the first few years of the programme. Soldiers reported problems with the tanks as far back as 2019.
Trials were also paused in 2020 while the National Audit Office called Ajax “systematically flawed” in a report in 2022. In the same year.
A ‘reset’ in 2023 has subsequently failed to lead to markedly improved outcomes.
Ajax contract divides military officials
The Ministry of Defence ordered 589 vehicles, which are due to be delivered by 2029.
A General Dynamics spokesman said it had “confidence” in its Ajax vehicles, adding they were the world’s “most advanced, fully digitised armoured fighting vehicle”.
“General Dynamics cannot comment on its contract with the Ministry of Defence, but it does welcome the conclusions of the Army Safety Investigation Team and the decision by the Ministry of Defence to resume acceptance and operation of Ajax vehicles under a phased and carefully controlled approach,” the company said in a statement.
“The safety of soldiers is, and has always been, our highest priority.
“We remain committed to working in partnership with the Army and MoD to restore the UK’s war readiness and help support the United Kingdom’s role in NATO.”
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “All payments to General Dynamics are reviewed to ensure they are appropriately evidenced in line with the contract.
“We will continue to work with General Dynamics to proceed safely, responsibly, and transparently to deliver an improved Ajax user experience for our soldiers.”