Two examples of the AJAX Armoured Fighting Vehicle (AFV) were recently displayed at Lulworth during a Pre-DCP23 Capabilities Showcase.
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A multi-domain immersive experience showcasing military equipment and capabilities took place at Lulworth Range, ahead of the 18th July United Kingdom Defence Command Paper refresh [link leads to the 97-page PDF].
The event was attended by Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey, Chief of the General Staff General Sir Patrick Sanders and Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, but regrettably JOINT-FORCES was not invited to attend (though some of our defence industry advertisers and contacts received invitations and expressed surprise that we would not be covering the event).
[Cpl Tim Hammond]
From official sources we understand: “As well as demonstrating some of the cutting-edge equipment being used by the British military, the activity showcased integrated tactics and combined arms warfare. Other developing capability demonstrated included remote medical support and counter-unmanned aerial systems technology. The RAF’s F35 fast jet and A400M transport aircraft were part of demonstrations, along with other equipment from across the three single services including Merlin and Apache helicopters and a Challenger 2 main battle tank.
“The demonstration featured personnel and equipment from units including 4 Light Brigade Combat Team; Future Commando Force (30 Commando Royal Marines); 4 Ranger from the Army Special Operations Brigade; 11 Group RAF; Experimental and Trial Group (ETG) consisting of elements from 2YORKS, the Next Generation Combat Team; elements of 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team HQ and Medical.”
[Cpl Tim Hammond]
There were many elements of the displays which we know would have been of interest to our readership, not least the appearance of: two AJAX Armoured Infantry Vehicles; the ATDU Challenger 2 (Megatron) concept demonstrator in latest configuration; the Polaris M-RZR being flown forward inside the Commando Merlin helicopter; and various unmanned ground and aerial systems and counter-UAS capabilities etc. However as JOINT-FORCES.com does not appear to be whitelisted media (creating a media backlist would be a breach of both the Civil Service Code and the Government Communications Service Guidelines) all we can do is republish some news images from the event taken by MoD photographers, which we think will interest our readership.
The brace of AJAX family vehicles on display at Lulworth is particularly interesting in the light of Secretary of State for Defence publicly stating earlier this year that the new vehicle is now back on track after a major delay in the trials process. Unfortunately no walk-around photos of static AJAX were made available after the event/s, but if compared with our walk-around of TC43AB displayed at ARMY EXPO 23 last week a slightly broader overview of current configuration British Army vehicles is possible.
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