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https://x.com/MilitaryBanter/status/1999095846353121456
Detailed Employee Account: Systemic Issues within the General Dynamics Ajax Programme

As a long-serving General Dynamics employee working directly on the Ajax vehicle programme, I feel compelled to document the profound systemic and cultural failures I have witnessed. My surprise is not that the programme has encountered technical challenges, but that the sheer scale and nature of the issues—many stemming from managerial pressure and a culture of corner-cutting—have not been brought to light earlier in a meaningful way.

The problems extend far beyond design flaws. On the shop floor, we operate under intense pressure from management to meet deadlines, often at the expense of procedure and safety. The prevailing directive from certain managers is to "just make it fit," with instructions to "do what you got to do—grind it, cut it, hammer it in, or boot it." This ethos of force-fitting components directly contradicts engineering standards and creates inherent vulnerabilities in the vehicle's integrity.

I have observed managers and quality personnel witnessing these practices without intervention, effectively endorsing them. Specific, recurring failures include:

· Critical Safety Omissions: Armour bolts left unfitted behind the VIP bin, compromising ballistic protection.
· Persistent Functional Failures: The driver's hatch mechanism continues to fail despite being a known, long-standing issue.
· Chronic Leaks: Fuel and hydraulic leaks are commonplace, indicating persistent sealing or subsystem integration problems.
· Falsified Safety Records: Most alarmingly, I have seen safety notices stamped off as completed. Upon physical verification, the required work had not been done. A grave example is within the Ajax battery compartment, a high-risk area that remains live even after isolation. Signing off on unperformed work here is not just negligent; it is dangerously irresponsible.

The logistical and support side of the programme is equally broken. We face severe parts shortages. To keep the current production line moving, we have been systematically cannibalising vehicles from a storage fleet of approximately 50 trucks in Llanelli. These vehicles haven't been started in years, their batteries are long dead, and we strip them for components because new parts are simply unavailable. This is not sustainable manufacturing; it is a desperate and inefficient salvage operation that underscores a profound failure in supply chain management.

Perhaps most disheartening is the cultural corrosion. A specific example that shocked me was witnessing a former 2ic (second-in-command) at the Merthyr site rapidly abandon his principles upon accepting a managerial position within General Dynamics...

Sounds to me like GDLS are cutting through all of the "process state" bullshit so detested by our right wing chums on here.

Also, any suggestion that we increase defence spending should just be met with the word, "Ajax."

Hannah Hampton
Chloe Kelly
A womens rugby player
Luke Littler
Rory McIlory
Lando Norris

Hampton won’t win it, but would be very funny if she did.

Why would it be funny?

Anyway, the full SPotY shortlist is gender-balanced but with two lady footballers so presumably not too much thought went into it.

Chloe Kelly – Football
Ellie Kildunne – Rugby Union
Hannah Hampton – Football

Lando Norris – Formula 1
Luke Littler – Darts
Rory McIlroy – Golf

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/cx2d33y4gzwo

Littler is the only person there who turned his sport upside down by his talent.

It’s a pub game, so not a real sport.

Can't see that it requires any less hand-eye co-ordination than say archery or golf?

Darts is more of a sport than F1 is.

One of the criteria citied often of whether something is a sport or not is 'Can you play it in a pub'.

Looking forward to next year's race in the Dog and Duck.

Bosanquet (who invented the googly) drew a distinction between games where the ball is still (golf, billiards) and where it is in motion (cricket, football). Extrapolating from that would place darts and archery in the still camp.

There's no clear defining line, but rather a range from the more pure end (athletics) to the peculiar (breakdancing). Olympic sport introduces a further refinement in that it suggests some connection with the ancient games. This brings dressage safely within the fold because equestrianism generally was such a big part of the games back then, even though many today scoff at horses dancing. Many other sports however that we accept at normal would have puzzled the ancient Greeks. Syncronised swimming puzzles me, by any criterion.

Just wondering how popular the pankration* and the chariot racing** would be.

*their form of MMA
**IIRC it was the *owner* who got the prize?

Chariot racing was an Olympic sport that was open to women, in the ancient world.

Other than that, womens' sports and gladiatorial contests were considered a form of porn.

Sean, you're a classics whizz. Save me the bother of looking it up. Wasn't it the success of a female charioteer that caused the introduction of a men only rule?

I think it was Cynisca, the sister of King Agesilaos of Sparta, who won a load of prizes for chariot racing, as owner and trainer, in the 390's. But, no woman was allowed to drive a chariot, at the contest. The fact that elite Spartan women took part in their own athletic contests, naked, was a source of fascination to the Greeks.

Thank you, Sean. You are so much better than AI.

I wonder that Robert Smithson has not tried to market you.

Thanks.

The problem with AI is that time and again, it gives plausible-sounding, but wrong, answers. I asked AI to describe the fortress of Masada, and it came back with an answer that was perfect, save for one minor point. It said that Herod the Great built the fortress in 100 BC, 28 years before he was born.

You can usually get an adequate historical answer, if you ask AI a question, for which there is a lot of online content. The less content, the more inaccurate it will be.

But, lazy students will just treat AI as gospel, and get failed accordingly. To my mind, AI should be treated like Sat Nav, or calculators. You should have a fair idea already what the answer should be, and if it comes back with something that doesn't seem right, you should verify it yourself.

Hannah Hampton
Chloe Kelly
A womens rugby player
Luke Littler
Rory McIlory
Lando Norris

Hampton won’t win it, but would be very funny if she did.

Why would it be funny?

Anyway, the full SPotY shortlist is gender-balanced but with two lady footballers so presumably not too much thought went into it.

Chloe Kelly – Football
Ellie Kildunne – Rugby Union
Hannah Hampton – Football

Lando Norris – Formula 1
Luke Littler – Darts
Rory McIlroy – Golf

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/cx2d33y4gzwo

usual shite list of southern UK nobodies

Couldn't agree more, Malc.

Why isn't McTominay in it?

McTominay is an Englishman (born in Lancaster) who isn’t good enough to play for England so had to drop down a level and play for Scotland.

Who's going to run the site, TSE, after Malc has dealt with you?