Update: British Army's Ajax AFV reaches IOC

The British Army's Ajax AFV has reached IOC with the Household Cavalry Regiment. (UK MoD/Jack Eckersley)

The British Army's Ajax armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) has reached initial operational capability (IOC), the UK Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) organisation announced on its website on 6 November. The IOC was met in September by the Household Cavalry Regiment, based in Bulford, Wiltshire.

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) defines the IOC milestone as being able to deploy Ajax on operations as a combined arms squadron, trained, sustainable, and ready for deployment. The IOC vehicle breakdown is 20 Ajax variants, 16 Ares reconnaissance support variants, four Athena command-and-control variants, four Apollo equipment repair vehicles, four Atlas equipment recovery vehicles, and two Argus engineering reconnaissance variants.

Delivery status

The Queen's Royal Hussars and the Household Cavalry Regiment have received Ajax vehicles, and the Royal Dragoon Guards and the Royal Lancers are training ahead of taking delivery of vehicles. As of 31 October, 156 vehicles have been delivered to the field army: 81 Ajax, 29 Ares, 21 Athena, three Argus, 13 Apollo, and nine Atlas variants.

Ajax full operational capability (FOC) is planned by the end of the decade.

General Dynamics Land Systems-UK (GDLS-UK) has a GBP5.5 billion (USD7.2 billion) contract to design, build, and support 589 Ajax vehicles for the British Army. This includes 245 Ajax variants, which are further divided into 198 reconnaissance and strike subvariants designed to operate as armoured cavalry, 23 joint fire-control subvariants for use by artillery forward observers, and 24 ground-based surveillance subvariants. The UK is also procuring 93 Ares, 112 Athena, 50 Apollo, 38 Atlas, and 51 Argus variants.