A new light tank developed in Oakdale has been unveiled by defence firm General Dynamics UK.
The AJAX prototype was designed at the firm’s centre at Oakdale Business Park and was unveiled at the Defence and Security Equipment International Exhibition 2015 in London on Tuesday, September 15.
The first British Army squadron will be equipped by mid-2019 to allow a brigade ready to deploy from the end of 2020.
Major General Talbot-Rice, the Ministry of Defence’s Armoured Vehicles Head of Programmes, said: “We are committed to supplying the Armed Forces with the very best equipment possible and are delivering on this by supplying the AJAX platform which will become their first fully digitised armoured fighting vehicle.”
Kevin Connell, vice president of General Dynamics Land Systems UK, said: “We are delighted to unveil the AJAX prototype, which is another significant step in the on-schedule delivery of a family of best-in-class platforms to the British Army.”
The AJAX platform is one of six variants to be delivered to the British Army by General Dynamics UK from 2017 through 2024.
Knowing the government they’ll only order 100 of them at a ridiculous price. The UK needs 1000+ of these new vehicles.
If they are up to scratch then we should take as many as we need and keep them in the uk and stop killing foreigners in their own homelands.
But I have to admit this is great news for a local company and it fills me with a sense of hope for at least a partial return of industries to our shores.