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Britain testing Ajax armored vehicles

The first two Ajax armored vehicles have been delivered by General Dynamics Land Systems-UK for British government testing.

By Richard Tomkins
An Ajax armored vehicle from General Dynamics Land Systems-UK, two more of which have been delivered to England for government acceptance testing. Photo courtesy of General Dynamics-UK
An Ajax armored vehicle from General Dynamics Land Systems-UK, two more of which have been delivered to England for government acceptance testing. Photo courtesy of General Dynamics-UK

Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Two Ajax armored vehicles have been delivered by General Dynamics Land Systems-UK to the Army for government assurance testing.

The delivery was made at a company facility to an army headquarters unit, which conducted the acceptance for both the British Army and the Defense Equipment & Support organization.

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Ajax is a tracked medium-weight armored vehicle in six variants. General Dynamics was awarded a $4.73 billion contract in 2014 to deliver 589 Ajax vehicles to the army.

Prior to delivery of the two vehicles for government testing, the army's testing team undertook a range of training courses covering such things as driving and maintenance, vehicle commanding and operating the self-defence weapon system. This training was delivered by General Dynamics Land Systems-UK.

"The AJAX program represents the UK's biggest single order of armored vehicles in a generation and is making good progress," Defense Equipment and Support Director Land Equipment Maj. Gen. Robert Talbot-Rice said in a press release. "We remain on track to deliver this battle-winning capability, which sits at the heart of the British Army's new Strike Brigades, into service in 2020."

The range of AJAX variants will allow the army to conduct sustained full-spectrum and network-enabled operations.

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