MILLBROOK PROVING GROUND, England, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- General Dynamics Land Systems-UK successfully completed additional AJAX armored vehicle live firing testing over the summer, the company said Wednesday.
The testing of the British army's new armored fighting vehicle took place between July and August at a range in West Wales, the company said in a statement.
It involved the turreted AJAX variant and the ARES variant and focused on generating specific data and evidence to support manned firing trials slated for early 2017.
The AJAX testing involved firing the 40mm cannon, the mounted 7.62mm machine gun and smoke grenades.
The ARES variant tested involved firing the Kongsberg PROTECTOR remote weapon system, which included firing the general purpose machine gun, heavy machine gun, grenade machine guns and smoke grenades.
The AJAX program is the British army's largest single armored vehicle order in more than 30 years, GenDyn said.
The first British Army squadron will be equipped with the AJAX by mid-2019, with brigades ready to deploy by the end of 2020.
