British Army to Retire Warrior IFV Despite Serious Issues with Ajax

The United Kingdom does not intend to extend the service life of the Warrior infantry fighting vehicle, despite serious problems affecting the Ajax armored vehicle family that is meant to replace it.

According to the UK Defence Journal, Minister for Defence Procurement Luke Pollard stated the Ministry of Defence is currently focused on delivering the ambitious objectives set out in the Strategic Defence Review.

As a result, Warrior IFVs will continue to be withdrawn from service, even though the replacement program is facing significant technical challenges.

At the same time, the ATILLA project – an army initiative to convert retired Warrior vehicles into crewed mine-breaching platforms – has progressed beyond the initial concept stage and has entered the early phase of commercial competition.

The program envisions converting surplus Warrior hulls into heavy, expendable unmanned ground platforms capable of breaching minefields for the Royal Engineers.

Despite this, the United Kingdom continues to place its main reliance on the troubled Ajax project.

Recently, new details have emerged regarding technical faults affecting these vehicles, which have been encountered by units equipped with the Ajax armored vehicles.

In particular, during inspections of the communications systems, crews discovered incorrect internal wiring, while some equipment was missing or damaged.

To restore functionality, certain components had to be removed from other vehicles. A General Dynamics specialist was brought in to calibrate the gun, and only one of the four vehicles was able to fire ten rounds successfully.

In November, it was announced that the operation of Ajax armored vehicles in the British Army had been suspended, and that the Secretary of State for Defence had been misled about the vehicle’s actual “safety.”

This decision came as a surprise, as Luke Pollard had previously officially stated that Ajax had reached Initial Operating Capability (IOC) and was fully safe based on the results of new trials.