Army pauses use of Ajax armoured fighting vehicles after dozens of soldiers fall ill

The British Army has paused the use of its new Ajax armoured fighting vehicles after “around 30” soldiers suffered vibration and hearing problems following a training exercise at the weekend.

A Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesperson said on Tuesday the two-week pause comes after “a small number of soldiers reported symptoms of noise and vibration” in the exercise, which was “immediately stopped”.

The spokesperson said “around 30 personnel presented noise and vibration symptoms” after tests were carried out, but the “vast majority of these have now been medically cleared and are continuing on duty”.

A small number “continue to receive expert medical care”, they said.

“Out of an abundance of caution, the minister for defence readiness and industry [Luke Pollard] has asked the army to pause all use of Ajax for training and exercising for two weeks, while a safety investigation is carried out into the events this weekend.

“A small amount of testing of the vehicle will continue, in order to ensure that any issues can to identified and resolved.”

The MoD said the decision “underlines our absolute commitment to the safety of our personnel. As with any major equipment programme, we continue to test and refine the vehicle to ensure safety and performance”.

“The safety of our personnel is our top priority,” the spokesperson said.

The Ajax, which costs nearly £10m and weighs more than 40 tonnes, is being billed by the ministry as a “next generation” fighting machine.

As heavy as a Russian tank, the vehicle is equipped with cameras, protective armour and a 40mm gun, with bullets that can rip through concrete.

Soldiers were taken to hospital this summer after suffering hearing and other injuries because of loud noise and vibrations coming from the vehicles.

Earlier this month, the MoD confirmed that a “small number” of troops had reported noise and vibration concerns following trials on three variants of the tracked vehicle.

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A spokesperson said an investigation was carried out and “no systemic issues were found”.

An internal review published in 2021 found that senior soldiers and MoD officials had known for up to two years that earlier faults with the Ajax vehicle had been putting troops at risk of harm.

The health and safety report revealed that issues such as potential hearing damage had first been raised in December 2018, but trials were not suspended until November 2020.

At that time, more than 300 soldiers were offered hearing tests, with 17 still under specialist care as of December 2021.

A total of 589 of the various Ajax models have been ordered by the army, which it expects to receive by 2030.

The Ajax could be deployed to Ukraine to support any possible peace deal, the MoD has indicated.