General Dynamics UK has delivered the first two ARES armored to British Army.

General Dynamics United Kingdom has delivered the first two ARES tracked armored vehicles to British Army following the successful completion of General Acceptance Testing. The vehicles will be used initially by The Armour Centre team in Bovington for training purposes.

General Dynamics UK ARES tracked armored vehicle for British army (Picture source General Dynamics UK Twitter)

The ARES is a variant in the AJAX family of tracked armored that will replace the CVRT tracked reconnaissance vehicle in service with the British army.

The AJAX platforms, consisting of six variants, will be delivered to the British Army between 2017 and 2024, and will serve at the heart of the Armored Infantry Brigade structure, providing essential capability to the Armored Cavalry within Army 2020.

The ARES will be used to deliver and support specialist troops across the battlefield to enable organic combined arms manoeuvre at the lowest tactical level, alongside AJAX-equipped troops. In service, ARES will provide safe transportation of fully-equipped soldiers in a well-protected environment. On dismount, troops will be able to more effectively conduct a variety of tasks, such as dismounted surveillance (including patrols), observation posts and close target reconnaissance.

As with all other variants, it boasts fully integrated sub-systems utilizing its sophisticated Electronic Architecture. Lethality is provided via a Remote Weapon System, which provides a self-defense capability that can be fired on the move, under armor. The Remote Weapon System is fitted as standard across all variants and it can replace the Primary Sight on the AJAX variant.

The ARES also provides the Common Base Platform flexibility that can be adapted for other roles, such as Engineer Reconnaissance and Command and Control.