https://breakingdefense.com/2023/01/ukr ... abilities/
A top UK military leader revealed this week that operational analysis of the Ukraine war led the British Army to feel “very uncomfortable” with aspects of its Future Soldier modernization program.
Lt. Gen. Sharon Nesmith, Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff, said the Eastern European conflict had in “the first instance” caused the army to reconsider how to address air defense, uncrewed systems, deep fires and intelligence, surveillance, targeting and reconnaissance (ISTAR) capability gaps.
During the three-hour-long Wednesday UK defense committee hearing — which provided the clearest glimpse yet into the war’s impact on UK land strategy — Nesmith told lawmakers that in an attempt to fix the problems, the service has already completed an “internal balance of investment” and continues to look for opportunities to accelerate procurement. But the new approach could be troubled by “two realistic constraints,” Nesmith said: supply chain difficulties and industrial capacity.
“There is a lot [regarding] our industrial capacity [to focus on] and recognition that we have not invested in the land industrial base, as we would now wish to,” she added.
To support the Future Soldier plan, the UK government has approved a £41.3 billion ($50.4 billion USD) funding package for British army procurement and support to the end of the decade, but critics argue that the recent acquisition record of the service, beset by gross overspending, program cancellations, industrial disputes and equipment not entering service in line with original timeline projections, puts the 2030 target in jeopardy.
The scale of the those problems were extensively laid out by defense committee members pointing out that £4 billion ($4.9 billion USD) had been spent over 10 years on the Ajax armored reconnaissance vehicle program, despite the fact an official IOC date has still to be set.
Nesmith revealed that “assumed” IOC and FOC timeframes have now been agreed by the MoD but said she was not in a position to share the dates publicly because additional due process is required.
General Dynamics UK is under contract to deliver 589 Ajax vehicles in six variants to the British Army, but because of “overcomplicated requirements,” the acquisition did not originally go according to plan, explained Nesmith.
She said that there are now “far fewer” requirements so the acquisition is “simpler to deliver against and has a broader utility.”
The MoD has since commissioned high-ranking British lawyer Clive Sheldon QC to review the decision-making processes surrounding the Ajax effort and make recommendations for the Army to act upon. A final draft will be passed to lawmakers “around the end of January,” said David Williams, MoD permanent secretary.
He added that a “workable solution” has been found to solve the noise and vibration issues, with vehicle user validation trials currently underway. Ajax blast protection activities have been completed as part of those trials, while 143 vehicles are 80 percent complete and a further 400 hulls ready for production, according to Chalk.