The Army's armoured vehicles fleet is to be refreshed. A
decision is pending on a new Mechanised Infantry Vehicle while
the first of nearly 600 Ajax armoured vehicles will be
delivered into service in the early 2020s. Both will equip the
Army's new Strike BRigades. Updates to the Army's Challenger 2
main battle tank and Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicles are
also underway. Altogether £19.1 billion will be spent on Land
Equipment over the next decade.
A troubled history
The Army does not have a good track record when it comes to
acquiring armoured vehicles from the core budget. The last
thirty years is awash with cancelled, suspended or modified
programmes with programme names like FFLAV, Tracer, FRES and
Scout falling by the wayside. The Defence Committee has warned
any repeat of past failures will “serious impair, if not
fatally undermine” the Army’s ability to deploy the warfighting
division as envisaged in the 2015 Strategic Defence and
Security Review and the army’s new Strike Brigades.
What does the Army currently operate?
The Army has over 4,000 vehicles in its inventory, most of
which are protected mobility vehicles or armoured personnel
carriers. The Army has 227 Challenger main battle tanks, 769
Warrior and over 200 Scimitar reconnaissance vehicles.
Upgrades and new programmes
The Defence Equipment Plan
2016 allocated £19.1bn spending on Land Equipment over
the decade to 2025/26. This includes upgrades to Warrior and
Challenger 2 tanks, the new Ajax family of vehicles and the yet
to be procured mechanised infantry vehicles (MIV) and multirole
vehicle protected vehicles (MRV-P). The 2014 contract for
589 Ajax vehicles was the biggest single order for a UK
armoured vehicle in 30 years.
