https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/n...loss-xg0q5g30l
New £3.2bn Ajax tanks withdrawn again after troops suffer hearing loss
New light tanks that have so far cost the army £3.2 billion have been withdrawn for a second time after more troops reported suffering hearing loss during trials,
The Times has learnt.
All trials involving the Ajax armoured vehicle were paused in mid-June on “health and safety grounds” amid concerns that mitigation measures put in place to protect soldiers — including ear defenders —
were not sufficient.
Ministers believe senior officers in the army may have hidden the extent of the problem with Ajax over recent months to prevent it being axed as part of this year’s “integrated review” of Britain’s defence and foreign policy.
Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, is said to be “distinctly unhappy” with the handling of the programme and has appointed a team to review it and find out what the army has kept “hidden” from politicians because of
concerns about cuts.
Experts said the problems with Ajax were so serious that the government should consider cancelling the £5.5 billion deal to buy 589 of the vehicles — of which only 14 non-turreted variants have been delivered so far.….
The trials were initially suspended for four months to March this year after concerns about hearing loss including tinnitus were raised by troops, but they were restarted with safety measures in place.
Soldiers were given noise-cancelling ear defenders and were limited to 90 minutes inside the vehicle.
In recent weeks more soldiers have come forward to report hearing loss problems, and the trials at Millbrook Proving Ground, a vehicle testing centre in Bedfordshire, were suspended.
It is understood that it took several days for that information to reach defence ministers, who then ordered the trials across the programme at three other sites to be suspended on June 16. Sources said there had been no vehicle movement at the other three sites in the days leading up to the wider pausing of trials.….
Ministers believe that senior army officers may have covered up the extent of the problems with the programme before the “integrated review” because they did not want Ajax to be scrapped.
A senior Whitehall source said an ongoing review of the programme would look at whether the army had “suppressed” issues with the vehicle.
“What has the army hidden from ministers over the last few years because they were so worried about cuts? Once they (senior officers) get their toys, they don’t want to let go of them”, the source said….
Francis Tusa, editor of the Defence Analysis newsletter, said: “At the moment they are spending good money after bad for something that is arguably unfixable.” He described Ajax as the “army’s Nimrod (MRA4)” — the planned maritime patrol aircraft scrapped in 2010 at a cost of £4billion, without a single aircraft entering service.….