Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what impact the delay in the Ajax programme will have on the British Army’s capabilities over the next decade.

The current forecast initial operating capability, or IOC, is 30 June 2021, with a 50 per cent confidence, and a 90 per cent confidence for September 2021. To be clear, the Department will not take the programme into IOC until we are confident that we have achieved what we need to achieve at this stage of the vehicle’s development.

I refer the right hon. Gentleman to my responses to his Urgent Question of 8 June 2021, in which I noted issues of concern on the vehicle which needed to be addressed. It is too early to provide an estimate of what impact this may have on the achievement of FOC, on which work is ongoing.