Luke Pollard, recently promoted to Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, must have looked forward to visiting General Dynamics UK in Merthyr Tydfil at the beginning of the month. The facility in south Wales builds the Ajax armoured fighting vehicle and its five variants (Ares, Athena, Apollo, Atlas, Argus: alliteration pays well in the defence sector), of which the British army has ordered a total of 589. The visit marked the vehicle’s initial operating capability (IOC), the development stage at which it is available in minimum, usefully deployable form.

This was especially significant for Ajax because the platform has endured a torrid birth and evolution. When the army decided to replace its 1960s-vintage combat vehicle reconnaissance (tracked) – CVR(T) – family of Scorpion, Scimi

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