Production lines running hot to build Army's long-awaited Ajax fleet
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- Опубликовано: 16 ноя 2023
- The General Dynamics factory near Merthyr Tydfil in the heart of the Welsh Valleys is where all six variants of the Ajax, the British Army's advanced land vehicle system, are being built.
Ajax is designed to be at the heart of the Army's future armoured fleet, and 589 vehicles from the Ajax family are being built at this site.
Forces News has been given special permission to go on the factory floor to see how these highly capable vehicles are being constructed.
More: www.forces.net/technology/go-...
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During World War II, German tank crews traveled to the factory where they were building the new Tiger 1 tank. It was a complex vehicle so having the crews see how it was being assembled also helped them to understand what kind of maintenance they would need once deployed to the fronts.
Must have trust issues if REME helping out with production line !
Definitely cheaper than a few months training on them.
Heinkel He162 pilots had a film and a 20 minute lecture before flying a jet fighter.
Is that why they were famous for mechanical failure?
@@lalec1417 we will see if these become "Famous" for their mechanical failings and weak design aspects.. They look like they would just get stuck in mud like any other Heavy Rolling Cannon
... and they won the war?
Glad our ally got the Ajax sorted out. I'm sure it will be very capable. 🇺🇸🤝🇬🇧
get rekt
@@paulwalker427thats not nice to its enemy is it, i thought the woke sung kum bye yah now...
Should have chosen someone other than a U.S. company for the build, expect better from G.D.😂
@@jamjardj1974 it isn't a US company though. GD just bought two UK defence companies and put their name on it. It is a UK lead and assembled project. There aren't any Americans on the design team or in the UK leadership or the program. It is the same way with BAE North America which is all US companies that BAE bought and they get no input from the parent company.
Wouldn’t be too sure about that, even Ukraine don’t want these and they’ll take a Willy’s jeep if it’s still running!
Looks to have been worth the wait and much of the Software had been updated while issues were sorted out. The Scorpion Family were really loved, but as far back as Operation Granby in 1991 it had been sidelined as a reconnaissance vehicle as there was no room to update the basic systems. They were used mainly as patrol and security vehicles since then.
It's good to see work is being kept in our country .and vechicles used by our armed forces are british built well done 👏 ✔ 👍
Mostly assembled here. Only parts are manufactured in the UK, like the turret.
Thankfully youtube has subtitles for welsh
"why is western military equipment so expensive that we can only afford to order it in tiny quantities?"
>man slowly screwing bolts onto a wheel with a ratchet wrench
"no idea mate"
Yes, as if there are no powered tools to do the job much quicker, reminds me of local tunnel builders using explosives and taking 15 years to build a tunnel, that could be built in two years with a Tunnel Bore Machine!
The ironworks made shot for Nelson Navy back in the day, we need more industry like this in the valleys
We need more industry everywhere, we make next to nothing now we need jobs the devil makes work for idle hands.
@@AJ-qn6gdWe do - but the valleys and Merthyr especially is extremely deprived and needs money and jobs.
I'm one of those working on the railways through the Cardiff Valley Lines: along with the Heads of the Valleys road system, the WG is building the infrastructure to bring in more companies like this
more weapons means more war - its a self defeating policy. Better to have industry that is based on having peace.
1:37 Nothing screams productivity like hand cranking 80 bolts just for the drive sprockets. Alternative title: How to milk it and turn a 5 minute job into an hour
yes they need to get an F1 pit crew to help improve the factory
sad thing is you could have 3 torque guns that stop at given specs and do it gun A B and C in order, in a star pattern and it would be very easy.
@@captiannemo1587 Multispindle Nutrunners have been around for ages...they defiantly spend too much time sniffing that glue dispenser
Welcome to government contracting!
meanwhile russia is pumping out 50 bmp3's a month
The tea machine has been replaced with an Ibuprofen dispenser.
Top Comment!!! 🤣😂🤣
The importance of these types of vehicles has grown exponentially as heavy armoured warfare has come back to the fore of warfare.
Are we really crowing about this? An absolute shambles from the very start. Way behind delivery date & well over budget (to the detriment of taxpayers). The vehicle is a monster (in size) as well. Meanwhile a big US defence giant nods approvingly at the profit.
Heads should roll, but won't. Politicians, procurement & senior army decision makers. There's so much better out there.
Q. With SO FEW been built why was the Warrior upgrade cancelled? The numbers of Ajax, and derivatives, are a fraction of the number of vehicles needed. This is Treasury taking over again and MOD Civil Servants messing up again. I thought that David Cameron was the only PM worse than BoJo the Clown but our Rishi Sunak is the pits! British Army left with "stale crumbs" yet again. Still insufficient F-35s for a single carrier even with RAF aircraft. First Tranche of Typhoons need replacing but no orders for replacements. So few MBTs and less than 150 to be ordered.
Has it stopped rattling the occupants into sickness yet?
Or making them deaf?
No. Do you want to know how they got around that?
Noise-cancelling headphones. And no, I'm not having you on.
🙄
@@paulg3216 Do the noise cancelling headphones vibrate the wearer's body in anti-phase to the rest of the vehicle? 😂
@@paulg3216wtf, we should have just bought cv90s from Sweden
Quality and durability...wow.
OMG Loctite vending machine. Its beautiful, so beautiful, I had no idea, no idea!!!!!!
All these interesting and secret new components for the IFV and he is interested in the glue vending machine! 😂😂 beautiful 😂😂
Thats because the glue vending machine is the only thing he's allowed to talk about. Can't understand why they were allowed to film anything here.
@@ADobbin1 my comment was more of a retort but thanks anyway!
I wonder if it'd be worth sending a few to Ukraine to see how they hold up under actual battlefield conditions. You'd get valuable data, possibly help out an ally in a small way and also not have to risk getting any of our own people killed.
Absolutely. Along with other pieces of new kit that are still in production.
It be great to see, but I don’t think it would happen… 😔
It would blow up if anything intended to destroy it hit it and anything not intended to destroy it would probably not destroy it, that's usually how it goes.
It would have better optics/sensors than just about anything else in the war at this point but its just an IFV and we don't have the numbers for them to make any meaningful dif to Ukraine.
Surely it depends on the technology in them? Wouldn't want something classified falling into the hands of the Russians, and as soon as you send something you have to accept that's a possibility.
no..... everythign we send ends up in russia so they can improve their own.
Knowing Merthyr, that vending machine isn't to make sure the glue is in date
🤣
i have a few good buys on ebey from that factory,
General Dynamics started as a merger between Electric Boat submarine manufacturer in Groton, Connecticut and Canadair aircraft manufacturer out of Canadian Vickers plant in Montreal Quebec.and designed and built the F-111 fighter and the F-16...while working with Grumman and Northrop. Then in the 1970s went into land and marine systems. It is the 5th largest defence contractor in the world now, and Fortune 100 ranked it as the 94th company on its list in 2022.
"n 1952, Electric Boat bought Consolidated Vultee and combined it, Canadair, and several smaller companies to form General Dynamics Corporation"
Indeed....they're also the cretins that have messed up this programme, made a disaster of the Bowman programme and are currently making an even bigger disaster with the Morpheus programme....
They're possibly the most incompetent defence contractor on earth...
What did you have for lunch and how proud are you of working here…
Good Job team, only took 35 years to replace a 6 Tonne Recce vehicle with a 40 tonne one.
Yep. More corruption.
🤣🤣🤣🤣😂
Damn
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Recce? more like reclining chair platoon feet up bru up
Keep up the good work everyone 🇬🇧 🇺🇸
Nice info
I don't believe this is Wales - I haven't see one pot noodle!
Anyone looking to seriously get into a trade should jump at the chance to work in such a plant. Lots of valuble skills and professional habbits to pick up, that will serve you well in the future.
They’re made in Spain, and constructed in Wales.
Yea the hull is produced in Spain. The turret is produced in Germany. The 40mm main gun is made in France. The engine is made in Germany. The FCS is made in France by Thales. It would be more accurate to just say that the vehicle is "assembled" in Wales.
And Destroyed in eastern Ukraine 🤣🤣
@@airhabairhabthey aren't being sent to Ukraine you Muppet!
To add to that, the remote weapon station is built in Norway.
@@airhabairhab The Russians have lost a lot MORE tanks and AFV's ! ! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
The Ajax was subject to Parliamentary enquiry if I remember correctly. How have all the (massive) problems suddenly gone away? And why is Forces News doing such a push to say that the vehicle is now OK? But hey, a magic glue vending machine, what's not to like?!
Like the development of the Bradley in the U.S., in the 1970's...1980's. I hope that you know what do I mean.
They overcame the NVH problem through a brilliant solution.
Instead of fixing the problem, they decided that noise-cancelling headphones were a cheaper alternative.
And no, I'm not joking.
As a Welshman I can say with my hand on my heart .....
Dont tell the soldiers that their APC was made in Merthyr.
Although they might figure it out when they find empty stella cans and burned tin foil in the footwells....
Supposed to start service in 2017 now latest date 2025, billions spent on this yet to be fully tested IFV. There’s a lot of faith riding on this , should have bought a load of CV-90s if anything to ensure our armed forces has current capability and keep GD on their toes to deliver. Not the first overrun overspent defence procurement but you would think the lessons have been learnt by now? Unless it’s a got to be made in Britain criteria?
Nice
Does it come with sick bags as standard?
"Assembly Operator" was called "worker" when I was engineer in manufacturing.
Like "Hair Stylist" instead of barber.
Use fresh glue to bond things together, how reassuring! Next supply crew with sticky tapes in case they fall apart
Only one word, AWESOME, cheers
that is a tiny factory but not like it needs to be big they are only building 589 vehicles that's nothing just shows how far the UK has fell as a power and the vehicle design isn't even British and so is General Dynamics
aint these the ones that murder your ears while in use?
Ill keep an eye on the Warthunder forums to see the technical docs.
Maybe add Chinese subtitles to make it easier for the Chinese government?
joint approval is good
Numpty question - did the internal noise problem get fixed?
Good to see ex-forces gents doing work that has a lot of meaning to them.
Expensive noise cancelling headsets to reduce 117 Db to a safe level !
@@peterwait641 Ah! Thanks.
So no then :(
They tightened the wheels to the correct torque.
@@randommadness1021 Without grease sprocket bolts seize and you have to heat with gas or cut nuts off with angle grinder . Spent 4 hours heating and using 1" impact gun on CR2 final drive bolts (the big ones not sprocket ones )rusted in which should be greased . They are torqued to 1700 NM and 2100 NM if using the flanged headed T2 bolts !
At 3:10 "But why have it in a machine where you swipe your card to get it?"
Sorry but the answer, 'so they can track when it's in or out of date', does not answer the question.
They could just as well leave a bunch of in-date supplies in a box. No need to swipe a card - just grab and go.
Truth be told (assumption), the supplies were disappearing so they had to ID who was using the stuff (illegitimately).
Stop's Theft.
Or to track which section or assembly line to charge. I bet these boys have their pockets turned out on departure and not a lot goes on ebay
@@Cous1nJack I've been randomly searched for less before when just working basic warehouse jobs. It's without question that these guys get searched all the time.
Most Loctite types I would expect but the 406 is super glue, the question must be asked.
406 for rubber and plastics not to be confused with 401 which is used by cowboys to stick bolt heads on lol
We should really be looking at an IFV and 105mm variant of the AJAX.
Recon by a huge metal box? Obsolete before it’s in service. Drones are now the preferred recon vehicle.
The soldier on the ground is and will always be the preferred method of reconnaissance. Unless they can be carried by a drone then they need these metal boxes to get places.
Guessing you knew that already as you serve in a recce unit though…
@@jarraandyftm The soldier on the ground has a limited view, restricted by the topography and how fast he can move ( movement attracts attention). If you haven’t noticed, both sides in Ukraine are using drones for recce. You’re obsolete.
@@akula9713 ok, I’m obsolete. But you’re a civvy.
@@jarraandyftm former Royal Military Police, 5th Regiment.
@@akula9713 former, and rmp.
500 surely isnt enough
With the same of our military 500 is probably too many
Probably only need two Ubers and a mini bus soon why things are heading
When you only have 150 tanks, 500 is plenty!
The vending machine also records who is using the product and how much they use,those products are high value.
Great APC support vehicle infantry can you get another 200,000 soldiers to man these state of the art vehicles
my question is why they are using only american companies? why not support their own business in uk?
The sprocket fitting could be completed in a fraction of the time with power tools. Spanner and ratchet is not very productive.
Air ratchet will help prevent tendon and wrist damage !
Military budget, no real world commercial considerations
Aren't these a little behind schedule?
It's due to that bloke with the hand wrench
@@KONAMAN100Two torque spanners. But yes. It must be him, of course. ;-)
Great !!!
UK must be self sufficient regarding defence capability...!!!
what? how is this self sufficient, almost every part is produced by a different country and we just slap the parts together.
Literally nothing about this is self sufficient at all!
defence in what form?
500 of these or so wont last on a front line lack of numbers is a problem
Absolutely, this tank is obsolete before it's even on service. It's eurocrap, the mad British government obsessed with Europe.
Bet you can't wipe that stain off⚔️🎯☮️
I remember the Scorpion, Scimitar, Spartan, Samaritan, etc. programme being a major success, with one major criticism: too small due to political demands for cheapness.
It's taken decades to realise, but here we are again, just, each one is a bit bigger, so it can carry something a bit more tasty.
Tentatively hopeful the political dimension is accurate this time, and we can sell a simple version to our allies, for example. Or even everyone in Europe. What an idea... let's hope the political dimension doesn't block that enormous window of opportunity.
"with one major criticism: too small due to political demands for cheapness. "
They weren't small to be cheap, in fact their compactness made them more expensive...
They were small so that they were airportable...
So it was the wheels that were causing the vibration?
Coffee maker the Americans put in, the coffee grinder was too loud. once we put the tea maker back in it was sorted. 🇬🇧😁
@andrewbennets7524 Good old British Engineering at its finest.
Musta had a few tea breaks 😆 🤣
Its crazy the UK does not have a hard kill ACTIVE PROTECTION SYSTEM on its vehicles these days ATGMS and tandem RPGs are not hard to acquire
Not on Ajax. Too expensive.
A national disgrace to waste so much money. No wonder its costing so much, tightening nuts and bolts with a ratchet and spanner, where is the automation?
That car park is very empty for a factory at full production
Are the parts made in uk, or is it just assembled here.
I'VE HEARD IT'S VERY NOISY!!!!!
We can hear you, there's no need to shout. Unless you were sending your post whilst being driven around in one of the Ajax at the time... 😉
And with rubber tracks we have just found out they can only fight in summer.
£5.5 billion project = £1 million each. 6 years late and still not yet in active sevice. Let's hope it's all worth it.🤞
I hope all the bugs have been worked out. May it serve well.
See how handles the real world and the men who have to use it Before you start singing it's praises
About god dam time
Just imagine, one cruise missile strike and the whole supply of a key weapon is destroyed. Talk about putting all our eggs in one basket!
@@JimCarneryou two are cracked, an attack on UK soil would be a declaration of war on NATO, y'know that 31 nation alliance... not to mention we are one of only 9 nations with Nuclear weapons... just who exactly is itching to pick a fight with a massive Nuclear powered alliance? 😂😂
About as likely as your IQ being above 50.
Where do they assemble the ear defenders the crews will need?
Soft plastic foam ear defenders have been standard issue for servicemen for decades.
@@stevetheduck1425 Cheers, GI Joe.
Live behind the plant you can hear these vehicles ten mile away
So they added extra air sickness bags?😅
".....being put together..." - exactly, an Assembly Plant with assembly based upon dubious quality Spanish hulls that may well have been the cause of the variable problems. I don't suppose the hulls were correctly QA'd at this ex-fork lift plant.
The CV90 would have been manufactured (not assembled) at the Armstrong Works in North East of England by a highly experienced work force and in a plant with decades and decades of armoured vehicle construction.
Sorry, but this report is a rather cheesy piece of low-end 'propaganda'.
tightening the bolts with a ratchet? give that poor man an impact. probably 10X ( a guess ) faster. especially considering how long and many bolts he has to tighten. yabba dabba do.
Nuts and screws do not fail, if below their stress limit. Rivets are good, too.
Welding, not bad, even though it has its problems.
Glues? Loctite? My boots, my camping tent and equivalent things, that's the domain for glues.
You don't much about adhesives then, amongst others things I imagine. Take a look at any modern car, adhesives used extensively throughout the vehicle, same for electrical installation, mechanical engineering, shipping, the list goes on.
@@luciussander8217 - - Maybe that is why the cars made today do not last as the old cars used to last. OK, take it easy, it is not only because of that. LOL
Are these the vehicles that were deafening the crew and shaking them like a protein bottle?
Is this manufacture, or merely assembly?
1:40 Why is he doing all that manually? Why not use a "rattle gun" (set to less than 500Nm) to do the initial tightening and then the special gun to apply the correct torque?
Exactly! His repetitive movement alone spells a life time of lasting injury.
I hope just while he’s chatting to the camera instead of blowing our eardrums out
Wouldn't make a very good interview if nobody could hear him
It's probably due to noise/filming
Think reallllyyyy reallyyy hard on what the key points of an interview are..... now go listen to a rattle gun and i think maybe... just maybe you will come up with an answer for your question.
Using rat gets for the drive sprockets FYI use impact guns lots faster
I wonder if the british Ajax or the german Puma is the better tank
There's only one way to find out... ;-)
Neither of them are tanks
It better have an autonomous anti-drone auto shotgun.
No power drivers ?????
Does it have any form of anti drone protection? If not it will be cannon fodder in short order. As for quality control, who seriously allows any vehicle out for test that can do serious injury to the crew. GD are cr@p, they laughed at the defence select committee when they were asked about the failings. In my opinion, its yet another example of government corruption.
You realise that any ifv or tank in now going to be susceptible to drone attack? We still need them as a capability
Just wondering... Have all the major teething issues been sorted out?
Any news on the Boxer production run?
There was a video a few weeks ago about it on here !
More money for our armed forces less on HS2 haha 👍🇬🇧
Did they really say REME were on site?
God help them.😂
Not all REME have big hammers , mistake to outsource the training to tick box modern style !
A huge transfer of U.K. tax money to an American company. No surprise the costs have been astronomical! It is not good value for money. If the Ukrainian conflict illustrates anything, its numbers that count. Simpler builds in quantity.
Numbers count? Cobblers. Russia has the numbers, but are they counting? No is the answer. It's quality over quantity that matters. Already seeing this in Ukraine with western armour.
AJAX Liquid Dish Soap
Why? They don’t have enough soldiers to man them!
AVP DRONES WILL MAKE SHORT ORDER OF THESE…. ZOOMM… BANG… 😢😢😢
This looks more like a custom order shop not a production line.
That's because everything for it is made outside of the UK all they are doing is putting it together like a kit car !
Hang on a minute they aren’t making them pay for that glue are they😂
Same with your cap badge
Yes it's Merthyr
Why is it as big as a MBT?
It's not.
@@sentien13it is, I’ve seen it next to cr2 and it’s almost as tall and it’s as wide as chally
@@sentien13 length CR2 8.3 m hull or 13.5 with gun x width 4.2 m x height 2.49 m. Ajax length 7.62 m x width 3.35 m x height 3.35 m . It is not small lol
@@sentien13 length CR2 8.3 m hull or 13.5 with gun x width 4.2 m x height 2.49 m. Ajax length 7.62 m x width 3.35 m x height 3.35 m . It is not small lol
@@xclonejager6959 Ajax 3.35 m must be turret version
BRB, just getting some Glue out of the vending machine.... Imagine building stuff at these speeds during the great wars, man alive have a word with the Japanese and do some modernisation
You’re welcome for the American technology
Over priced, over complicated garbage that usually doesn’t work, only makes money for shareholders.
WHAT Yank technology. Just because the profits are going to USA doesn't mean the Yanks have contributed any ideas!
The name on the factory means little, when Qinetiq, or whatever it's called today, is government minister owned.
It's like how Heckler and Koch, and Colt of Canada make British weapons.
Wow I see immediately they’re SO inefficient! Musk would turn on his couch from irritation of inefficiencies that this facility is plagued with.
Vending machine for stock rotation? Nah... this is to stop people taking them home - scan it use it take it home results in management chat. We had the same in the Army - PX24 anyone?
I’ve seen people shaking vending machines to make snacks drop out for free.
Unless you have good anti drone cover, they are pointless.
I hope they have some sort of drone protection
So advanced it has fire extinguishers hanging all over it, and so much high tech they let you and your camera in
The high tech is inside numpty.
I am assuming the red fire extinguisher on the vehicles is for factory use only. For it to go into battle, the red would give it away and bullets and shrapnel would penetrate and release a cloud of extinguisher also giving away position, also no extinguishing anymore.
D Walt impact lethium ion. J.C.
Got to be much better than that Dinky Toy the Army are using at the moment, it might be versatile, but for an European war the Jackal is very exposed!
But The AJAX is 6 years overdue at least and I think the Chassis are built in Spain, and not Wales as intended?
It's not replacing jackal, which has its own, unique use. It's replacing CVRT.
The first batch of hulls were to be made in Spain and rest in the UK , due to delays they made them all in Spain . Might have been intention for cost saving as duplicating a line eats into profits !
The jackal is an awesome piece of kit!
@@garagenigel Supercat don't sell power point presentations to David Cameron and properly test and develop their vehicles 🤪
@@Retrosicotte Yes, I was on CVR(T), these vehicles are huge compared to them, at the moment the Light Role Regiments are equipted with Jackal, totally useless in an European War, obviously much better than the Recce vehilcles of the 1970´s like Ferret, but they were not for fighting, they were just supposed to observe and get back to safety, no idea what a Jackal can can do with no real armour or overhead cover.
Not sure if AJAX is any better than an off the shelf weapon system like CV90, that has been trialled in War, and is made by the same company.
AJAX is nearly the size of of a full blown MBT, it was adopted from the Uhlan Family of armoured vehicles and was over 40 years old when BAE bought them out.
But, they brought much needed jobs to Wales.
So they solved the fact the vehicle could cause hearing issues and induced vomiting?
Isolation mounts for seats and driver controls , extra thick comfy cushions and noise cancelling headsets , think rubber tracks would not be squeezed out of fixed price budget without causing a loss !