TANK COMMANDER SUES MOD FOR £500,000 OVER AJAX HEARING CLAIM

A former Household Cavalry sergeant is suing the Ministry of Defence for more than £500,000, alleging he suffered 'acoustic shock' while testing the Army's new Ajax armoured vehicles. Jonathan Bevan says 'horrible' and 'piercing' emergency alarms sounded repeatedly in his headset during trials of the 40-tonne vehicle, leaving him with chronic tinnitus and mental health problems. He served as an Ajax tank commander between 2017 and 2021, after being trained to drive the vehicle and operate its weapon system. Bevan was medically discharged from the Army in June 2023, citing those conditions. Baroness Carr, the Lady Chief Justice, is hearing the case.

The Ministry of Defence has acknowledged negligence over high noise levels inside the Ajax vehicle but denies this caused acoustic shock syndrome, and disputes that Bevan's tinnitus stemmed from his headset. The Ajax programme, supplied by an American manufacturer, has faced years of delays. Ministers suspended payments to the manufacturer between December 2020 and March 2023 amid concerns about noise and vibration affecting crews. The then defence secretary, Ben Wallace, told Parliament in 2023 that the programme had been 'troubled'. The vehicle was originally due to enter service in 2017, but the first units only reached active service last year.

The Army plans to field 589 Ajax vehicles across six variants, including reconnaissance, personnel carrier, command and control, engineer reconnaissance, and recovery and repair versions, under the £6.3bn contract. The vehicle is intended to become the Army's next-generation scouting and logistics platform. Bevan's claim turns on whether the acoustic conditions during testing caused his specific injuries, a point the Ministry of Defence contests. The case continues before the courts.