Concerns have been raised over the Ministry of Defence’s plans to cut the number of frontline tanks by up to a third.
The plans would see Britain left with fewer tanks than Serbia as one of the army’s three tank regiments will have all 56 of its Challenger 2s replaced with smaller Ajax fighting vehicles.
The cut would mean the army’s total number of Challenger 2 tanks would be reduced from 227 to about 170.
Russia, who recently announced its third generation T-14 main battle tank, by contract, has around 2,700 tanks.
A leaked document from the MOD described the new Russian technology as “the most revolutionary step change in tank design in the last half century”.
The Ajax armoured vehicles can travel at speeds of up to 40mph and are have been billed as the first ever fully digital armoured fighting vehicle in UK military history.
The Ajax is more lightly armoured than the Challenger 2 tanks and has a 44mm gun, as opposed to the Challenger’s 120mm. It does, however, have a longer range and can cover a wider area.
The Ajax is designed for reconnaissance and rapid penetration into enemy territory but has drawn criticism for being too lightweight and unable to stand up to heavy artillery.
In September 2014, General Dynamics UK was awarded £3.5Bn to deliver 589 AJAX platforms to the British Army. In July 2015, it was awarded a further £390M contract to provide in-service support for the AJAX fleet until 2024.
Colonel Bob Stewart, who commanded British forces in Bosnia, expressed his reservations about the plans. He said: “You should only reduce your main battle tank numbers with great caution. Reducing your tank strength may well be misconstrued by our potential opponents and be perceived as weakness in our will to properly defend our country.”
Image of Challenger 2 (c) Crown Copyright
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AJAX Challenger 2 Ministry of Defence MOD
Post written by: Matt Brown
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