Mark Urban

Now, this was sometimes referred to in the Armoured Corps as the Dinky, or they were referred to in the tank regiments as Dinkies, because they were 14 tonnes and our chieftains were 58.

They had three people in them.

They were very small.

They had nice wide tracks, so they were light, and the ground pressure was less than that of a human foot.

So they could go anywhere, remain largely undetected.

And they were tremendously maneuverable.

Now, originally, the Ajax, which weighs in at nearly 40 tons, is about twice the size physically, was bought by that.

Now that, as you say, if you're a procurement guy who was trying to buy that, that's a nonsense.

I don't think the Ajax has a future as a reconnaissance vehicle performing the kind of role that the Scorpion was doing back in the day.

But I think for all the reasons we were just discussing about you're still going to need to move people around the battlefield,

and need systems with long range, you know, night vision, these kinds of things.

I think there is still a role for something like the Ajax on the battlefield.

It's just not the one they thought it was when they designed it and set the procurement system going all those years ago.

I mean, it's incredibly hard.

You know, the Ukrainians,

talk about evolution on the drones, the small ones that are used over the battlefield, happening in six-week cycles.

So you try a new trick, I will move to this part of the frequency spectrum to control it.

And within six weeks, the Russians are jamming that part of the frequency spectrum or introducing some other innovation.

When you take six years just to write the spec for a new weapon, which is the sort of rate that the Ministry of Defence in Britain has been going at of late, or the US, they're no better in that sense,

it's just not going to work.