New State-of-the-Art Ajax Training Facility Opens in Bovington
A new training facility has been opened at the Combat Manoeuvre Center (CMC) in Bovington, UK for use by crews of the soon to be operational Ajax Armoured Fighting Vehicle. The facility houses a suite of immersive simulators which will provide advanced synthetic military training and vehicle instruction sheds (VIS) for training one the Ajax platform. Colonel John Godfrey, CMC commander, commented on the new training aids in a British Army press release;
‘AFV simulator are integral to the safe system of Training. The facility formally opened at ARMCEN (Armoured Centre) today provides us a step change in our simulation training capability and enables us to throughly prepare new drivers, operators and commanders to get the very best from Ajax’
The Ajax is part of a £41 billion investment in British Army equipment and support over the next decade. The Ajax programme is expected to enter its initial operating capability within the second half of 2025, delivering a fully trained and deployable squadron that will be able to sustain itself on operational duties for up to 6 months.
Brigadier Pete Quaite OBE, head of Infrastructure Plans at the Army’s Basing and Infrastructure Directorate, also commented on the training facility commenting:
‘We are providing investment across several areas of our estate to modernise training infrastructure, improve operational efficiency and deliver benefits for our people. It is excellent to see the new Ajax facility at Bovington now in use, offering ‘real-world’ training for military personnel, reducing running costs and providing a critical capability to the Army.’
As well as the new Bovington facility there is also Ajax training infrastructure which has already been opened at simulation centres at the Tidworth Garrison, Bulford Camp on Salisbury Plain.
At the time of writing Ajax’s road to full operational capability has been storied, receiving criticism from both the press and the government. In March 2023 the MOD had reportedly already spent £5.5 billion on the programme. It remains to be seen when Ajax and its variants will finally enter British operational service.