Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 26 November 2025 on Ajax Programme Update, HCWS 1099, when he plans to authorise the resumption of training exercises for Ajax.

As a result of the 30 soldiers reporting be affected by noise and vibration from an Ajax training exercise on 22 November, I directed the Army to pause all use of Ajax for training and exercising, while a safety investigation is carried out into the events. Those investigations are ongoing and I will update the House at an appropriate point.

Furthermore, I have put in place a Ministerial led review into the Ajax programme, which will assess how effective the department has been at implementing the actions of previous reviews, and seeking anything further that is required regarding safety.

It will be conducted by experts who are not part of the AJAX programme, including Malcolm Chalmers, to provide a more independent view. It will be overseen by me and report to the Secretary of State.