Up to 60 jobs could be cut at two General Dynamics factories in South Wales – including the Oakdale plant in the Caerphilly borough.

In recent years, the two sites – with the other in Merthyr Tydfil, have found themselves under the microscope, as they have been responsible for assembling the stricken Ajax armoured vehicles for the British Army.

Across the two plants, some 800 workers have been involved in building the vehicles, which have been stricken with problems.

During testing, the Ajax tanks have had trouble with vibrations and noise levels – leaving some people sat inside them with permanent hearing damage.

Despite the £5.5 billion project falling a long way behind its initial deadline – just 26 vehicles have been delivered of the 589 which were supposed to enter service by 2017, General Dynamics UK have stressed that they are committed to the project.

A revised delivery date has yet to be given, as testing to fix the problems continue.

But, these plans could be dealt with a body blow, amid claims that up to 60 jobs could be lost across the two South Wales sites.

A spokesperson for General Dynamics said: "We have taken the difficult, but unavoidable, decision to reduce our UK workforce.

“This is a reflection of the current status of our key programmes.

“We remain committed to delivering these important programmes for the British Armed Forces.

“We are engaging directly with those affected employees as we undertake this process.”

Trade union Unite has engaged in the formal consultation process at the Merthyr plant, though it is understood that there is no union recognition at the Oakdale plant.

How did we get here?

Last month, the National Audit Office (NAO) published a report into the Ajax programme, in which it claimed that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has failed to understand the scale and complexity of the work.

The NAO said the concerns around noise and vibration have still to be resolved, and continued to represent a “significant risk” to the programme.

The MoD and GD continued to disagree on the safety of the vehicles and whether contractual requirements had been breached – a dispute that was likely to take until late this year before it can be resolved.

While trials with Army crews have been halted, the NAO said GD has continued production without receiving any payment in 2021.

However, the MoD has yet to set a revised initial operating capability date and has no confidence that an April 2025 target date for full operating capability can be met, leaving the Army to rely on its ageing Warrior armoured fighting vehicles.