Inside factory where production lines are running hot to build Army's long-awaited Ajax

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.

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Jonathan Richards, head of production at the plant, told Forces News: "At any one time, when we are at full rate production there will be circa 50 vehicles on the shop floor that are either in production or test itself."

In what is something of a first for this industry, the end user - the Army - is at the factory right through the process.

"You have Army personnel on site permanently and indeed they work collaboratively with the GD [General Dynamics] team to get the best result on the JAG, joint acceptance group testing," Mr Richards added.

This means each of the Ajax variants - Ajax, Ares, Argus, Athena, Atlas and Apollo - leaves the site with both builder and user approval, in turn speeding everything up.

Also more efficient is the build process itself.

There is a production line system, just like with cars, rather than building each vehicle from scratch in its own bay, which is time-consuming but had been the norm in sections of defence manufacturing.

'Proud' to be saving lives

Many of those building Ajax are themselves military veterans and know the importance of what they are doing.

Production line manager Darren Liversage, who is ex-military, said: "I'm extremely proud, it's very rewarding, I know where the end user is going to be using it, how it's going to be used and the environments it's going to be used in."

He added: "I appreciate the quality of the builds we are producing and knowing that we are going to be saving lives with the vehicle."

Mr Liversage believes the Ajax is "head over heels, higher than any of the current vehicles that are out there", simply calling it "brilliant".

The people at the sharp end of building the new armoured vehicle know full well that their hard work will pay dividends for generations of soldiers to come.

Platforms will continue to be delivered to the Army in 2023, with the Household Cavalry and 6th Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers being the first to convert to Ajax.