Giant calibre gun barrels for tanks and artillery are being made within the UK for the primary time in 20 years after German defence group Rheinmetall formally opened its UK Gun Corridor in Telford in the present day.
The Shropshire manufacturing facility makes barrels and breeches for 120mm and 155mm weapon techniques, together with the RCH 155 howitzer and future artillery platforms, in line with Rheinmetall. The corporate stated the work additionally helps the Challenger 3 predominant battle tank programme.
Wes Streeting, the defence secretary, attended the opening ceremony with Armin Papperger, chief government of Rheinmetall AG.
“Britain is again within the enterprise of constructing the weapons that our Armed Forces have to defend the nation towards our adversaries,” Streeting stated. “From an empty web site to full manufacturing in eight months, that is fast reindustrialisation in motion.”
“100 expert jobs in world class manufacturing and the return of huge calibre weapon manufacturing to UK soil for the primary time in 20 years,” he stated, including: “That is what defence as an engine for progress appears to be like like.”
Rheinmetall stated the ability is predicted to help greater than 100 expert jobs as manufacturing develops. It at the moment employs 35 folks on the Gun Corridor and round 685 throughout its Telford operations.
The location has 11,500 sq. metres of manufacturing house and at peak capability can produce as much as 245 barrels a 12 months throughout each calibres, in addition to greater than 50 breeches, the corporate stated. Manufacturing of breeches and breech blocks started in Could, adopted by barrels in June.
Specialist employees had been recruited from the Telford space. Earlier than manufacturing began, UK workers skilled at Rheinmetall’s plant in Unterlüß, Germany, in precision manufacturing, high quality assurance and specialist weapon manufacturing. The corporate stated it will proceed to develop its workforce as output will increase.
The location additionally obtained funding by means of a £53m contract awarded in March by the procurement company OCCAR on behalf of the British Military for RCH 155 weapon techniques. Based on Defence Tools and Assist, £30m of that contract was allotted to creating the Telford Gun Corridor, which it stated would give the UK operational independence in gun barrel manufacturing.
Rheinmetall stated the Gun Corridor types a part of greater than £200m it has invested throughout its UK operations over the previous 5 years. The corporate is already concerned within the Boxer armoured automobile programme and the Challenger 3 tank improve. It describes the manufacturing facility for example of the UK-German industrial partnership established below the Trinity Home Settlement, which the 2 nations signed in October 2024.
Rheinmetall stated it intends to introduce British metal from Sheffield Forgemasters, the steelmaker nationalised by the Ministry of Defence in 2021, into manufacturing at Telford. The corporate additionally stated it will work with UK small and medium-sized enterprises to construct long-term home provide chains as manufacturing will increase.
Commerce physique Make UK Defence has beforehand known as for international companies profitable MoD contracts to be legally required to reinvest between 75 per cent and 90 per cent of contract worth within the UK over 10 years, arguing that binding offset commitments would channel extra defence spending to smaller producers.
Papperger stated the opening was an “vital milestone” for Rheinmetall and the UK, and that the manufacturing facility would strengthen Britain’s defence industrial base “for many years to return”.
“We’re dedicated to investing within the UK for the long run, increasing our industrial footprint and dealing collectively to ship the capabilities wanted for the long run,” he added.
Rebecca Richards, managing director of Rheinmetall UK, stated: “In simply eight months, we reworked an empty facility into an operational manufacturing functionality by investing in British folks, British expertise and British business.”
The opening follows Ministry of Defence figures printed in August exhibiting that jobs supported by defence spending in weapons, ammunition and army combating automobile manufacturing rose by 51 per cent in 2024/25, to five,900.
The federal government’s Defence Funding Plan commits £298bn to defence over 4 years. In July, Streeting instructed business that greater than £11.8bn of contracts had been agreed within the 10 days after the plan was printed.
