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The ARES platform is a variant of the Armoured Cavalry Programme (Ajax) and remains on track to deliver Initial Operating Capability by December 2025.

The British Army's Ajax armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is scheduled to reach an initial operational capability (IOC)during the second half of 2025, Janes learnt at Defence iQ's International Armoured Vehicles (IAV) 2025conference being held under the Chatham House rule in Farnborough from 21 to 23 January. This includes the IOC of the first squadron being fully equipped with the vehicle – the Household Cavalry Regiment – which will operate 27 Ajax AFVs. It will be equipped with 18 Ajax variants, with the remainder consisting of the five other versions. As of 22 January 73 Ajax vehicles of all six variants had been delivered, including 50 for the IOC.

General Dynamics Land Systems-UK (GDLS-UK) has a GBP5.5 billion (nearly USD6.8 billion) contract to design, build, and support 589 Ajax vehicles for the British Army. This includes 245 Ajax variants, which are further divided into 198 reconnaissance and strike subvariants, designed to operate as armoured cavalry; 23 joint fire control subvariants, for use by artillery forward observers; and 24 ground-based surveillance subvariants. The UK is also procuring 93 Ares reconnaissance support variants, 112 Athena command-and-control variants, 50 Apollo equipment repair vehicles, 38 Atlas equipment recovery vehicles, and 51 Argus engineering reconnaissance variants.