has anyone reported that the late aussie f18 is missing an rwr in its cockpit and on its mfds?
The headline being ‘troops in hospital’ is a teeny bit OTT.
Things I’ve heard about Ajax. I’m not in the services so this is pure second-hand/third-hand stuff that has likely been dumbed down so a civvy like me can understand it.
In terms of tech it is absolutely loaded with toys and gadgets. Not quite F-35 levels of battlefield awareness but not a million miles off.
40mm is a better weapon than RARDEN - if nothing else because of the ammunition choices available in 40mm.
Mobility is good. Certainly for the size/weight of the thing ‘it can shift’.
One point I heard was that if Ajax were being tested in the 1970s - the issues of crew comfort/noise wouldn’t even enter the equation. In fact, AFVs weren’t even tested for interior DB levels until the 1990s if I recall. However, by the standards of the 2020s - SOME crew really don’t do well with it, motion sickness, etc.
It is also replacing the Warrior - which was an incredibly good vehicle with decades of service under it’s belt. Ergo, some very big shoes to fill and thus not a great deal of sympathy from some quarters when these issues arise.
Add in a good dose of MOD Procurement Incompetence and you get Ajax. It’ll probably turn out okay in time, but late and costing more than originally specc’d. Like most British weapons systems, then…
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Report from a sky defence correspondent “it has a gun” I genuinely had to stop and laugh
However in fairness she released more on her twitter with her overall impression and that was that it was a failure and didn’t suite the army’s more evolved requirements however they were putting on a brave face and were going to go with it and just make it work as best they could.
But holy hell “It has a gun……”
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Mega Journalism there.
I mean while I’m not green I’m in the mob, so… from what I hear Ajax is still sketch as whatsit.
Both of which are fortunately saving graces. The CTA 40 is definitely a weapon system I want in on (any chance the RN could bin off the ASCG 30mm for the CTA 40mm?)
As for the situational awareness, again, I really hope so, because otherwise this is one massive fat waste of money.
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As far as I’m concerned now it works it’s fine but the requirement was short sighted and CV-90 is better in every way from all angles as a consideration both as a package and as a individual vehicle.
CV-90 would’ve also been actually exportable from the UK with our turret British built hulls etc but nobody in their right mind is going to buy Ajax or any of its derivatives
On this note whilst Thales Rapidfire is good a Bofors 40mm is better in every way and we own Bofors too and that includes a Thales rapidfire with LMM too Bofors 40mm still wins
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was the twitter and news report i send from the same person?
Cause both gives different names.
Deborah Haynes and LarisamIbrown
yeah, its so specialised on the requirements of UK, similar like the Puma, that its not that attractive anymore to buyers.
For the export the more flexible CV90s and KF41 hulls are just way more attractive with enormous customisation potential
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notwithstanding the fairly massive public whinge episodes on it. There’s also the EBRC with the CTA40 iirc, and that thing can also be converted more (if the French wanted it to be)
No, different people, the news report is by Deborah Haynes, who went into more detail on her twitter here:
https://x.com/haynesdeborah/status/1986518446188736741?s=20
The tweet you sent I haven’t seen actually.
That’s not even why its not so exportable. Its the complete travesty that the vehicle development has been noone is going to invest in something like that compared to CV-90 that’s been as smooth as butter.
Not to mention that any advantages Ajax may or may not have had (because there had to be some justification bar the government bribes/corruption that meant Ajax got chosen), the new CV-90 MK.IV hull and upcoming MK.V hull have both surpassed any ASCOD modification theorised or realised.
CV-90 also does this great thing where it carries troops as well as being a scout vehicle whilst being 15% smaller than Ajax. PUMA does the same thing which is why despite it’s flaws I still think its a respectable but overspecialised vehicle.
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The general media coverage of the Challenger 3 and AJAX has been pretty abysmal, so much misinformation and horrible takes
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clearly a 60mph MBT, nothing wrong there
The 60mph mistake was quite funny, i think that was the Daily Mail to nobody’s surprise
The Defence Eye article a lot of people use to cite the weight increase for the Challenger 3 is also complete slop, “…CV12 power has been upgraded to generate about 1,100bhp…”
Im glad to see they’re reducing the engine power, what an upgrade! It’s a shame so many people just went with what they said despite the entire article being full of misinfo and hearsay
maybe the 1100 figure is net and not gross?
I’m not sure, but I’ve never seen 1,100bhp said anywhere else
the article makes other errors too (and some really stupid assumptions), so I’m gonna say its a mistake
I did a write up about it here:
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There’s been horrendous takes, and lots of misinformation, somehow I wonder how defence correspondents get the job because often they make stupidly elementary mistakes that like… many WT players will be able to spot and argue against anything from incorrect stats, conversions or even just pictures and labels.
You also can’t overlook the horrendous quality of the actual media coming out of the MoD and government. So much of the current coverage of the British military has been straight up lies and complete overestimations in our credibility.
Some of my (least) favourite examples:
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‘War footing’
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The entire word ‘lethal’ as a whole
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‘No corruption or external influence was found’ - The guy now works for the company making the vehicle he selected…
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‘a significant improvement in the warfighting capability of the UK’s Armed Forces’ - You changed 27 targets to make it meet IOC.
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‘we are ready’ - No we are not
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‘I can with the assets available to me fullfill all existing and future requirements placed upon me by the Government’ - You’ve just withdrawn assets from key strategic and regional bases
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‘Ensures British strategic interests and defence is uncompromised’ - There’s plans for a new foreign military base next to ours?
Rant over before I get a ban.
Ive emailed TWZ numerous times to get articles corrected. And I’d rate TWZ as pretty good usually. UK Def journal is shite though.
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Yeah TWZ is normally pretty good, but UKDJ I rate the scope of the coverage but I think they don’t ‘catch’ errors in reporting coming directly from the MoD or other sources.
Sending my challenger 3 to the in-house tuning workshop to make it go 100mph.
I do wonder what it would take to make a challenger 3 go 100mph.
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