The Ministry of Defence has announced plans to regenerate the nation’s ability to produce forgings for gun barrels in collaboration with Sheffield Forgemasters.
This development comes after a meeting between Defence Secretary John Healey, President Zelenskyy, and UK defence industry leaders to discuss boosting industrial production for Ukraine.
In an update, the Ministry of Defence stated:
“The MOD agreed to regenerate the UK’s ability to produce forgings for gun barrels, working in partnership with Sheffield Forgemasters, supporting the repair and overhaul of Ukrainian vehicles; this is the first step towards UK sovereign barrel production which has been developing for 20 years.
UK industry support of this kind will enable Ukraine’s armed forces to get maintain vital equipment, such as L119 Light Guns and the AS90 self-propelled gun, keeping it in the fight and repairing battle damaged equipment as quickly as possible.”
UK stopped producing large-calibre gun barrels years ago
According to a report by Christopher F Foss at Shephard News, the UK ceased manufacturing large-calibre gun barrels following the closure of key facilities such as the Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF) Nottingham and an armament production facility in Barrow-in-Furness.
These closures left the UK without domestic production capabilities for barrels needed for tanks and artillery. ROF Nottingham was the sole producer of barrels for the Challenger 2 tanks and AS90 howitzers, among others, until it closed and the site was redeveloped.
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