Defence Vehicle Dynamics (DVD) gets underway today at Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire. On display for the first time will be four different variants of the AJAX armoured fighting vehicle developed by General Dynamics, which will support the UK's new Strike Brigades.

Approximately 589 AJAX platforms will  be delivered to the British Army through 2017-2024. The  first squadron will be equipped by mid-2019 with a brigade ready to deploy from the end of 2020.

There will also be demonstrators and tours of the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme platform by Lockheed Martin. Enhancements to the platform include a new turret designed and developed by Lockheed Martin UK and a fully stabilised 40 mm CT40 cannon. The turret also features modular armour protection which can be repurposed to address specific threats. WCSP will extend the life of the platform up to the 2040s.

BAE Systems will also showcase its proposed solution for the Challenger 2 Mk2 Life Extension Project, as well as a range of other solutions including, Cased Telescoped Ammunition, which delivers up to four times the power of conventional ammunition, new software allowing off-the-shelf military and commercial hardware to be quickly installed on combat vehicles and extended range 155 mm ammunition.

Fresh from its success in Australia where an order worth €2.1 billion (AUD3.3 billion) was placed for 211 Boxer wheeled armoured vehicles, Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann will showcase the Boxer 8x8 armoured wheeled vehicle after the UK announced that it would rejoin the Boxer programme and not run a competitive tender for the Mechanised Infantry Vehicle programme. Rheinmetall will also discuss its involvement in the Challenger 2 Life Extension Programme, which is expected to draw upon its experience of upgrading the Leopard 2 tank.

Also at DVD 2018, Supacat will unveil its HMT 600 `Coyote` in a mobile Anti-UAV role and Oshkosh will demonstrate its Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, which will replace the up-armoured Humvee with a family of more survivable vehicles that can carry greater payloads and operate outside of a Forward Operating Base.

Jankel will also launch 6x6 variants of its FOX vehicle range utilising multi-drive technology developed by Australia's NSV.