Ajax (formerly Scout SV) is a next-generation armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) developed for the British Army by General Dynamics (GD) UK, the UK subsidiary of defence company General Dynamics.
The Scout SV programme was officially renamed Ajax in September 2015. The Ajax programme is being delivered through a joint effort by Army, Defence Equipment & Support and General Dynamics.
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The new Ajax vehicle was developed to replace the CVR Scimitar light tank currently in service with the British Forces as part of the UK’s Future Rapid Effects System’s (FRES) Specialist Vehicle (SV) programme of the UK.
In November 2025, the British Army confirmed that the Ajax vehicle had reached Initial Operating Capability.
In the same month, the army paused the use of Ajax for training and exercises after several personnel reported symptoms linked to noise and vibration during a training activity. The trials were later halted following additional safety reports.
By April 2026, the Army Safety Investigation Team’s investigation report was completed and found that the symptoms experienced by personnel arose from a combination of factors. The report also stated that recorded levels of noise and vibration were below legal exposure limits.
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is considering a phased approach to restarting the Ajax programme. The first phase would restart trials using the current version of Ajax, with a limited number of vehicles operated under tightly controlled conditions and maintenance regimes. A second phase would introduce improvements linked to air filtration, crew compartment heating and the electrical power generation system.
Development background
Ajax is a modified military off-the-shelf vehicle. The vehicle will form the backbone of the British Army’s deployable, all-weather intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance capability. It will operate as the reconnaissance vehicle for the Armoured Brigade Combat Teams and the Deep Recce Strike Brigade Combat Team, and it will also support Artillery Fire Support Teams.
The design of the Ajax armoured vehicle is based on the Austrian Spanish Cooperation Development (ASCOD) SV.
It is one of the first four planned variants to be deployed by the UK Army. The others are the recovery and repair variants and the protected mobility reconnaissance support (PMRS) infantry carrier variant that can carry up to eight soldiers and a crew of two. All variants have an open electronic architecture design.
Assessment of potential reconnaissance vehicles from BAE Systems and General Dynamics UK for the SV programme was started in November 2008.
General Dynamics UK’s Scout was selected as the preferred bidder, against the BAE Systems’ CV90 armoured combat vehicle, in March 2010. In July 2010, the UK MoD awarded a £500m ($780m) contract to develop seven prototypes of the ASCOD SV – three Scout, repair and recovery versions and an infantry carrier variant – for the demonstration phase.
In June 2013, General Dynamics completed cold-weather trials on the mobile test rig (MTR), which is a precursor to the prototype SV. The MTR was unveiled at the Defence and Security Equipment International 2013 exhibition.
The base platform CDR for the PMRS variant was completed in April 2014, and the first PMRS pre-production prototype was unveiled at the Defence Vehicle Dynamics 2014 show.
The UK MoD placed a £3.5bn order for 589 Ajax vehicles in six variants in September 2014.
The vehicle’s critical design review (CDR) was completed in February 2015 and the first pre-production prototype was unveiled in 2015.
Initial live firing tests on the PMRS variant were completed in December 2016. GD delivered two Ajax platforms to the British Army for government acceptance testing in September 2017.
By 2025, General Dynamics UK delivered 160 Ajax vehicles to the British Army.
Ajax design and features
The Ajax vehicle is expected to offer a reliable and modern platform for improved protection, situational awareness, firepower and mobility for manned reconnaissance missions.
The ultra-quiet auxiliary power unit of the vehicle offers quiet and concealed loitering while the rugged body enables 24×7 surveillance operations. The vehicle can identify and detect helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles and decoy systems.
The vehicle’s electronic architecture design allows for the replacement of various mission subsystems, while the commonality of its platform will allow for a wide number of variants, including a direct fire vehicle that would feature a 120mm direct fire weapon delivering the capability of a light tank.
The vehicle has maximum synergy and commonality with the FRES utility vehicle and SV programmes in electronic architecture, survivability and mobility, which reduces the development costs, risks and time.
The turreted Ajax variants will be the first British vehicles to be equipped with the jointly developed UK and French Cased Telescoped 40mm Cannon, known as the CT-40 Cannon. The weapon is intended to fire several ammunition types including high explosive, armour-piercing and training rounds.
All non-turreted variants are fitted with a remote weapon station that can mount a 7.62mm general-purpose machine gun, a 12.7mm heavy machine gun or a 40mm grenade machine gun.
Observation and communication systems
The Ajax vehicle is designed to provide the most advanced ground-based intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) capabilities. It will reduce the workload on the crew with its doubled target stand-off range, fast and accurate automated search, detection and tracking.
The detection and identification ranges of the vehicle will be twice that of the currently operational battle group thermal imager system.
An array of sensors and systems is integrated with the crew stations using General Vehicle Architecture-compliant 20-gigabytes per second Gigabit Ethernet intelligent open architecture. It allows for capturing, storing, manipulating and analysing six terabytes of data for the crew. The captured still and moving images can also be shared in real time.
The electronic architecture and integration of Bowman Tactical Communications and other C4 systems on board enable transmission of the data to secure C4I systems of other allied forces such as the US Army.
Weapons and protection of the Ajax SV
The Ajax vehicle’s turret is armed with a CTAI cased telescoped cannon system, 7.62mm co-axial machine gun and electrically operated grenade launchers. The vehicle is designed for blast protection equal to Mastiff levels.
It will have all-round modular protection, far-target thermal sights, sensors for local situational awareness and acoustic detection. It also offers a 360-degree remote weapon system for urban and mountainous combat.
Ajax vehicle’s engine and mobility
The vehicle has seven pairs of tracked road wheels on either side. Its wide track and high power-to-weight ratio enable it to improve dramatically on the all-terrain manoeuvrability of the CVR 2 to effectively perform ground-based ISTAR operations.
A 600kW MTU 8V 199 TE21 engine and Renk 256B automatic transmission system, dual rate suspension system and seven wheel-station running gear give the vehicle a top speed of 70km/h.
The transmission is rated at 45t, allowing the vehicle to meet different variant configurations without any major upgrades.
Ajax armoured vehicle variants
A common base platform for SVs is used across the six variants of the Ajax fleet.
The Ares variant provides the common base platform across the Ajax family and is intended to transport and support specialist troops across the battlefield, including Anti-Tank Javelin Teams, snipers and support troops. It will deliver overwatch and enable dismounted support for both the Deep Recce Strike and Armoured Brigade Combat Teams.
The Athena variant delivers the command-and-control function, processing and managing information to help commanders make informed battlefield decisions. It is expected to be fielded within Armoured Cavalry, Armoured, Artillery and Engineer units.
The Argus variant is designed to supply timely and accurate engineering information relating to both natural and man-made terrain and infrastructure. It will be operated by 25 Engineer Group in support of the divisional plan.
The Atlas variant is the recovery configuration within the equipment support role, tailored to provide an effective means of recovering a casualty vehicle.
Apollo is the repair configuration and will be used to tow battle-damaged vehicles and to lift heavy sub-assemblies.
Companies and contractors involved with the Ajax programme
The development of the Ajax armoured vehicle involves approximately 24 UK and other European-based suppliers. Lockheed Martin UK was contracted to provide the turret for the vehicle. Thales UK is providing a full optronics suite based on its Orion technology. The suite includes sights for commander and gunners, reconnaissance and targeting, and short-range sensors for situational awareness.
Raytheon UK was chosen to provide its Chassis Power Switch Node for the vehicle in January 2012. The display systems are being supplied by Barco. ViaSat is responsible for the design and development of onboard encrypted data storage systems.
Lockheed Martin UK was awarded a $1bn contract by General Dynamics UK to deliver 245 turrets for the Ajax vehicle in October 2014. The first turreted AJAX prototype was unveiled in September 2015.
The thermal sleeves for the turrets were developed by industry partners Nexter Systems and CTA International, with modifications by General Dynamics UK.
