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.
The challenge became more apparent when the UK supplied Ukraine with Challenger 2 tanks and AS90 howitzers. Due to the high rate of fire in combat situations, these tanks and howitzers need regular barrel replacements.
Who are Sheffield Forgemasters?
Sheffield Forgemasters, based in South Yorkshire, has been identified as a key player in the UK’s initiative to restore its gun barrel manufacturing capabilities. Nationalised in July 2021, the company is now fully owned by the Ministry of Defence. Forgemasters specialises in producing large bespoke steel castings and forgings, serving sectors such as defence, engineering, nuclear, offshore, petrochemical, and steel processing industries.
The company has a long history dating back to the 1750s and has undergone various mergers and acquisitions. Despite financial difficulties and industry challenges, including a failed attempt to acquire a 15,000-tonne forging press for civil nuclear components, Forgemasters has maintained its position in the heavy engineering sector.
Forgemasters’ manufacturing capabilities include pouring Europe’s largest single casting at 570 tonnes. The company operates two forging presses capable of exerting 4,500 tonnes and 10,000 tonnes of pressure, which are essential for producing high-quality steel components.
In March 2022, the company ended its supply contract with Gazprom following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. More recently, in July 2024, the MoD announced an arrangement with Forgemasters to support the repair and overhaul of Ukrainian vehicles, marking a step towards regenerating the UK’s barrel production capabilities.
Thank goodness. At last!
I still say the UK also needs the strategic capability to build MBTs (i.e. CH4), heavy armour, fighting ships, and aircraft etc. without relying on other countries like the US, Germany, or France who have their own political directions.
This certainly has the feel of the late 1930s to me, when it very nearly was too little to late but, with the help of the Commonwealth we got out act together – albeit at great cost and sacrifice.
And ofcourse back then we had the Royal Navy , still able to secure trade for uk and hinder trade for our ene.ies . Now we have about 6 ships to do both , boats that are seaworthy not in docks or idle
Indeed. We sent more capital ships to the Falklands (about 25) than exist in the entire fleet today (about 14), when they’re not laid up
The British Army is too small to support a large land arms industry. The Army leadership have squandered our domestic industry which was in pretty good shape in the mid-90s.
The Navy and RAF have done a much better job at nurturing domestic industry and we can build advanced equipment like SSNs, SSBNs, carriers, fast-jets and missiles without support from others should we choose to.
I’m inclined to agree, the UK can continue to manufacture its own land systems but just as with our aircraft it needs to do systems like MBT as a collaboration effort much like Boxer.
The army needs to get out of its own way and stop messing around with off the shelf designs.
Unfortunately they forgot that a nation wins wars via 4 core parts 1) its military industrial base 2) political will 3) the population’s willingness to fight for it 4) economic base able to maintain your fighters..( that’s money and resources) You can have the most technologically advanced armed forces in the world…but if any of the above four falters before the enemy you will likely loss. The US has lost to because of profoundly inferior foes in the 20th and 21st centuries because of a falling in just one of these….France fell to the third Reich because of 2 of… Read more »
I agree, but you must add competance and training of those armed forces..France lost very rapidly to the 3 rd Reich because of its total incompetance of their military leadership..Thier total misunderstanding of the enemies capabilities, a total inability to accept the intelligence, and a total breakdown of the command structure…..The head of the forces was more a political , or “friends” choice rather than based on skills…
Don’t forget doctrine, a key factor in the French defeat in 1940.
MOTS equipment often needs to be adapted to meet the UK MoD Operational Requirement – collaboratively built vehicles needs to be able to operate British radios, ECM kit, etc etc and have a BV fitted!
Unfortunately politicians then meddle and demand ‘UK content’ etc. That is where the costs go up and the timeline lengthen.
Not the fault of army leadership. BAE closed down Newcastle and Leeds tank factories, Alvis in Coventry, RO small arms in Nottingham, gun barrel manufacture at Barrow( ex Vickers).
With the exception of Germany, most European countries rely on state owned/ controlled companies for a lot of defence equipment. We have to do the same because we cannot compete with the US. Indeed their laws prevent us accessing their market.
You’re aware that BAE isn’t a charity that keeps factories open for the fun of it right?
You can’t keep a factory open if there are no orders. BAE warned about this before it closed both the Leeds and Newcastle factories. It was the Armys choice not to order a single artillery platform after AS90 so BAE had no choice to end barrel production.
I’m fully aware. That is why I made clear in my other comment that privatisation of key defence manufacturing sites was, for a country as small as Britain, a grave mistake. Why if the army felt they had enough AS90s would they order more? The closure of so much of our land defence industry is entirely the fault of politicians.
It wouldn’t have made a difference if BAE was privately owned or not in this sense. Those factories would’ve closed either way.
The army never ordered any more AS90s. A planned second batch was never ordered because of the end of the Cold War.
The army didn’t order a single piece of artillery after AS90 was ordered in the early 90s and ended production in 1995.
Barrow being government owned wouldn’t have changed that and would likely have meant production of barrels would’ve ended sooner than it did as exports would’ve been less likely.
I don’t accept your argument. Other European countries have sustained defence manufacturing through lean years. How did Sweden keep the ability to make artillery pieces when no one was ordering them? Or Nexter? In peacetime, orders for new equipment are likely to be scarce and irregular. Sweden wisely funded BAE Bofors to design and build Archer. To date just 48 have been manufactured.
The TOBA agreement with BAE sustained warship construction through years of no new orders. But we failed to sustain the capability to build new warship guns. Utterly stupid short sightedness on the part of successive governments.
France ordered 72 Caesars for in 2004 for delivery between 2008 and 2011. They ordered 109 more in 2022 for delivery from 2026 to 2030. Sweden ordered 24 Archers in 2010, and 24 in 2016 for delivery between 2013 and 2022. They ordered 48 more in 2023 with delivery starting in 2025 A 15 year period with no Caesars delivered to the French army, a 3 year period with no Archers delivered to the Swedish army. The first Boxer RCH155s will be delivered later this decade, the last AS90s were delivered in 1995. That’s a 32-34 year period in which… Read more »
Exactly. 179 AS-90s was deemed sufficient and were fielded from 1992. Since the turn of this century the numbers have only ever headed South, at an alarming rate.
No-one should blame the army though. Cameron ordered a 40% cut in the active fleet in his 2010 Defence Review and a more recent politician has gifted 60 to Ukraine. I am sure too that a politician cancelled the Braveheart upgrade – Army officers do not cancel major programmes.
Was it really the army’s choice not to order artillery after AS-90? AS-90 came into service in 1992. Back in 1990 Marconi/BAE Systems was awarded a contract to upgrade 96 of AS90s to the Braveheart spec with 52-cal barrels. These were expected to enter service in 2003. Not sure who at the top cancelled the contract but it would not have been an army officer. There was no need to buy more L118 Light Guns or to replace them, even after many decades of service (ISD was 1974). However some upgrades were done. It could be argued though that M777… Read more »
When I said the army, I really meant Blair and his wars that cost nearly £50b and forced the army to posture towards COIN operations rather than a peer enemy. When 19 mechanised brigade converted to light, M777s for 40 RA and the 2 TA regiments should’ve been ordered. After Army 2020 when 3 RHA and 4 RA reroled to support 1 Division, they should’ve got M777 along with the 3 TA regiments. They didn’t because it was cheaper to use Light Guns from storage into a role they weren’t designed for. AS90 should’ve been returreted with Braveheart or replaced… Read more »
Bravo.
Someone else who remembers the Labour years!
Re the army especially, we are still paying for it now.
Post 2010, Light Guns replacing AS90 when 3 RHA and 4 RA lost their SPGs as the Armoured and Mech Bdes were reduced from 5 to 3 was ridiculous, especially as they would have been the artillery element for the Strike Brigades until that was also put to bed.
It would help if the tanks and artillery the UK makes are also being exported. If a British MBT is unable to compete with it’s German and American rivals, not to forget others, then maintaining a domestic manufacturing capability will be financially unrealistic.
and BAE System Inc is the US based subsidiary with thousands of workers and billions in US contracts
We don’t need a large army, until we need a large army.
We certainly need a larger army(air force & navy too) now.
Seems like we’re trying to win a 200m race by starting 100m behind everyone else. Savage, insane cuts have left us way too weak.
In particular things like engineers, arty, armour,ships you don’t need them today so cut them save money. Need them two years later you are up a river of excrement without a means of propulsion.
And then your in a peer war…and you’ve sent every penny you ever saved + huge amounts more ( untold billions) …trashed your economy for years and got untold numbers of people killed…all so you could save a few billion quid a year of you defence budget….to say the “ end of history and the last man” brigade were idiots is to make a massive understatement.
Soldiers have been killed because we once did not have enough body armour, and we only had Snatch LRs rather than full PM vehicles in the early years of the sandbox wars.
Indeed I know it’s not something that’s is shared but I don’t believe the light role infantry are truly deployable unless they have at a minimum light protected vehicles available.unless they are specifically..airmobile/rotor mobile… It’s why I think it’s important we see the armoured infantry retain warrior ( the infantry battalions in the armoured brigades should be in tracked IFV)…then essentially scrap the light protected infantry battalions and convert them to mechanised infantry battalions in box boxer. This would leave around 6 battalions worth of light protected vehicles maybe as pool for the light role infantry..this would mean that light… Read more »
Again, you’re back in the early 200s again. If only.
3 x AI Bdes each 2 x Warrior Bn.
3 x UK MECH Bdes each 2 x Bulldog, 1 x Warrior.
Later AI Bdes had 2 x Warrior and 1 x HPM Mastiff until Carter came along and wrecked it with his Strike plans.
Yes but I liked the early 2000s better….not so much Carter.
Totally. 6 strong brigades, plus 16, plus 3 Cdo.
The cuts then started and one of the Mech Bdes became 19 light and UK based Bdes started losing tanks with Scimitars replacing them.
Hi mate, I honesty hope that there is a way back to that force level, as in reality that’s what the British army needs to be…where it needs to be…in my own mind the test of the the British army being a truely relevant deterrent is the ability to sustain for a longish period a heavy division or indefinitely a heavy brigade combat team..as well as having the ability to deploy a light air mobile brigade…if it cannot do that i question what we are about as the 6th richest nation on the planet with a population of 70million.
You’re right but unless you want to spend that cash…. ot how many of your 70 million would stand up and join zhe forces in peacetime nevermind fight
I recall an exchange Daneile and I once had – we weren’t sure whether Lt Role Inf had any or sufficient soft-skinned TCVs to move the battalion! Protection levels should match the threat. Of course we never know what threat the guys are going to face next, so maybe that is why you moot a minimum of light PM vehicles for all lt role inf. The beancounters won’t agree, of that I am sure. We have deployed lt role inf numerous times and I don’t recall them always having PM vehicles. On Op Banner lt role inf were often driven… Read more »
Hi graham..with the light role infantry..what I think they could actually do is hold the foxhounds ( we have 6 battalions worth) as a divisional asset..so when any of the light role are working up for deployment or if they are on 30/60/90 days they get the foxhounds…..indeed we don’t need every light role battalion in foxhound all the time after all 2 are always doing civil duties and a couple of other are hanging around deployed in perfectly safe places..( unless Turkey decided to invade). I always object to the word fantasy fleet, it’s not a fantasy to feel… Read more »
We don’t really have light role Infantry left in the army anymore. 12 and 20 AI’s 5 Battalions are on Warrior/Boxer 7 Brigade’s 6 Battalions are either on Foxhound, or stationed in Cyprus 11 SFAB’s 4 Battalions are aimed at STTT’s ASOB’s 4 Battalions have their own mobility requirements that I won’t go into. 16’s 4 Battalions are Air Assault. That leaves 4 Brigades 6 Battalions, one of which is in Brunei, one is in Cyprus that are “Light Role” (but they don’t have CS or CSS so not deploying at scale), and I think they’re due to be equipped… Read more »
Interesting on the light role…but to be honest l simply don’t accept that as a nation we could not afford to update warrior and keep it for the armoured infantry..thus freeing up boxer to equip 6 of the protected Mobility battalions turning them to mechanised infantry …that’s not fantasy fleet..the challenger 3 upgrade costs around 5.6million a pop, which is around 25% of the purchase price of a new MBT…a warrior upgrade is not coming close to that 5 million each figure…we could probably upgrade the entire warrior fleet for a third to a quarter of what we are spending… Read more »
Sorry, but it’s the definition of fantasy fleet, unless you can explain what you’d cut to pay for the Warrior upgrade (saying that the Treasury should cough up the money, while again, a reasonable thought, is also a hall mark of Fantasy Fleets). To answer your final question ahead of time: People who propose fantasy fleets are fantasists. I’m really sorry that you don’t like being told that you are engaging in fantasy fleet’s but that is what you are doing. That’s fine, it’s not the end of the world, but it requires an understanding that thinking of orbats without… Read more »
Well considering the plan is to increase the defence budgets to 2.5% when conditions allow..it gives plenty of opportunity..the defence budget and army budget is not something in isolation, it’s part of wider government spending..and at preset it’s likely that the chancellor will have a level of headroom within government spending….the government will have choices to make…in reality warrior is still in service, there is no physical or major barrier to it remain in service into 2040…so the only barrier is choices…do we choose to keep a tracked infantry fighting vehicle in service or do we not..to pretend it’s not… Read more »
I wish it was a given, but with the black hole in the equipment budget and the general dislike of armour that the self proclaimed cassandras have, I’m not holding my breath.
What happened to the 120mm mortar? Was reported ages ago it was incoming.
I think the ISD has been accelerated to 2032? 😛
🙄
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it will happen. But if you go back a 3 years it was the plan to have both armoured infantry battalions in warrior ( until 2040s ) as well as Mechanised infantry in boxer, so it’s not like it’s completely left field…the cancellation of WCSP was a bad decision, but while we still have 600+ warriors in service it’s a bad decision that can be reversed. I will be writing to the new review and defence ministers giving my personal view on why it was a bad decision. Mainly because I feel you… Read more »
Eyebrows raised, ears pricked, nose sniffing, at mention of ASOB mobility requirements, for, was it 8 man teams?
12 man teams.
Can’t walk everywhere, especially if you are the only 12 people in country.
Damn. Thanks.Must try harder to remember that, especially as I’ve asked you before….🙄
Intriguing.
I’d invite you to think about how you’d maximise the utility of a ASOB type unit and what kind of mobility that would require.
👍 Already have since you mentioned earlier.
I’ve an idea, whether it’s accurate I have no idea till I sniff something out.
And if I do, I won’t post it anyway.
Funny how I’d noted one formation elsewhere in UK mil using them, but didn’t think of an ASOB requirement.
Good few hundred ordered I’d hope given Rangers geographical spread.
That was another of my concerns should Labour literally go all Europe, the area specifics per Bn beyond Europe, bar one.
Ohhh, and another type as well.
Gotcha.
Just wait until the Para’s find out that Rangers need jumps quals for insertions 😂😂😂😂
ARSE would BURN.
(Let’s be clear: This is a joke)
Hi Jonathan, I could not say anything more relevant than Dern who is a serving soldier. Soldiers deploying on operations should be equipped with all that they need to move, survive against the threat, and do the job. Referring to the army webpages on the MoD website….Infantry up against the most demanding threat (enemy with heavy and medium armour) are AI in Warriors (currently), then a level of threat less will be met by the Mech Inf in Mastiff (currently), then a threat even less could be met by Lt Mech Inf in Foxhounds, then where the threat is nil… Read more »
I don’t think the Para’s had anything in Kabul aside from CAV’s,
…and that seemed to be enough for the situation. Maybe they sourced them in-country? If so, that is a quick and practical solution when prep time is limited.
You can’t source CAV’s in country, although they may have used ones that had been brought in by previous British Forces.
Yep, of course. Thanks.
While the unecessary deaths in the Sandbox Wars where really terrible, they are sadly one of the more minor examples, British Soldiers moving in Snatches without body armour had very little impact on the outcome of that war.
Yes, true. [I was pleased to play a role in ABW that got PM vehicles procured fast by UOR].
Unfortunately it’s even worse…because you generally need a large army because you made a small army….deterrent works….paying for a large army prevents wars..which in the end save you money and blood….cutting back on your large army because your at peace and don’t need it increases the likelihood of you going to war.
Yes but how do you get them to join up?
Or why did do many people join in the past?
We don’t need a large army – we need a right-sized army – and that is not one that is just 73,000 regulars strong.
Agree. An army around 90,000-100,000 troops would be sufficient and ensure we can fulfill our NATO commitments. The new government needs to get us match fit and ready. Everyone knows China and Russia are spoiling for a fight. Our European allies are mostly moving in the right direction, Poland especially. Our gift to NATO should be a very capable and much larger navy and an RAF that can field superior platforms and smart precision guided munitions available in adequate numbers. We need massive investment in homeland defences as well, so the UK industrial base and our key military sites are… Read more »
I have much confidence that this SDR will be competently done but less that HMT doesn’t hack back at what £££s is really required ‘in the final chapter’. I see some cuts being detailed but played down as well as enhancements, which will probably not cover all that you suggest and to the level required. Strangely enough, I am less worried about Trump. He may not get in to power now that a more credible opponent than Biden is in the offing, both Houses may not be taken over by Republicans, Trump is not as anti-NATO as he once was,… Read more »
Good post 👍
Yes the right size is a good question and to be honest I don’t think HMG has been very clear with the army on what it wants it to deliver for a long time now…if it’s a heavy division + a light airmobile brigade both for extended operations..then it’s to small…if it’s a max effort heavy brigade for and extended operation and a light brigade now and then ..then it’s about the right size…
Hi Jonathan, I am not sure why you are not sure what HMG wants the army to deliver by way of organised, trained capability. It has clearly been stated in the various recent defence reviews, IRs, Defence Command Papers. The booklet, ‘Future Soldier’ or ‘FS’, is a very good read and describes all this and has all the relevant Orbats. There are deficiencies with the various Orbats in FS (mainly caused by insufficient headroom) and much of the army’s heavy metal kit is old and/or unmodernised. Also, MoD don’t always buy the right kit from the right manufacturer either. Dern,… Read more »
Hi graham, sorry I was probably not being clear..when I say not sure what HMG wants ..what I mean is that when you have a published set of requirements..but you don’t then resource for that requirement, you have not been clear what you want….essentially HMG can publish what it wants.but if it’s not providing and supporting having the required capabilities to achieve this then it’s providing a confused message..I’ve lived with this for ever in my roles…the Department of health and the cabinet office have always had lovely “ this is the mission type guidelines” but actions and available resources… Read more »
That makes sense. All know what the army has to be able to do, but it is a matter of debate if resourcing is sufficient to achieve a mission with a high probability and a high level of success, with minimal friendly forces casualties. I was out in Afghan Nov 08-May 09. Task Force Helmand (TFH) was a Brigade Gp which was well supported by air, avn, med (Role 3 Hosp), log, ES etc. But I always reckoned we needed an Infantry Div to cover our real estate, and given the threat. [Not saying we had a spare Inf Div,… Read more »
I fear your first sentence is right, but we should justify and have a right-sized industry. Even back in the 80s and 90s it was being said that the army was a relatively small customer for LandRover and their patronage did not drive development of design – UK farmers and NGOs represented far larger customer groups. You attribute too much influence to Single Service chiefs in how domestic industry has been shaped. The UK shipbuilding strategy which has required for decades that warships are to be made in Britain had far more influence than what the First Sea Lord thought… Read more »
Maybe not a large one, but if we can use a common hull for a medium weight tank, an IFV, SPH etc and likewise for a wheeled force, there’s surely enough vehicles there to keep a factory afloat.
We are building the turrets for CR3 although granted a German design does that count?and of course we refurbished the hulls.
We can design tank turrets – BAE put forward a proposal for CR2 LEP, which was later retitled CR3.
We can build AFV turrets – LMUK built the turrets for Ajax and I think for the late lamented upgraded Warrior.
Agree. It’s all possible. Just takes political will. New government has a long list of 14 years of Tory incompetence to resolve, rebuilding the economy and fixing holes that should never have been allowed to happen.
👍
Agree totally. The sell off of Royal Ordnance sites to a private company that then closed them down was a predictable disaster. It’s astonishing to think that all new British frigates will have only foreign made guns.
We need to rebuild small arms manufacturing as well.
We only have Rolls Royce because a Tory govt rescued it from bankruptcy. It is madness to rely on the market to produce vital defence equipment.
We do of course have the strategic capility to build AFVs including MBTs in Assembly Halls, of which there are more than one. We do not manufacture every part in this country and so buy-in items, often considerable items such as Ajax hulls (!) – the same as in all UK manufacturing operations.
It would of course be better if we could make all our own steel and armour ceramics, barrels, ammunition, APS and hulls.
In my opinion, especially in this uncertain world, the UK needs to nurture key strategic capabilities and resources. In that list I would include the manufacture of high quality steel, and things like full control of Intellectual Property (IP) for all key defence technologies. I propose a new UK organization beyond the MoD to oversee this.
It has been along time since I read the Land (Equipment) Industrial Strategy, and it was a dry read, full of vagueness. That was the place to have had the plan that you mention. The tiny and troubled steel industry is of particular concern right now. dstl has a lot of innovative technology IP, but a lot lies elsewhere.
Hi folks hope all is well.
We’ll good news and has I’m guessing taken the Russian Ukraine war to shift the thought process to getting this underway. Hopefully this may lead to other uk built artillery pieces. And may also be of interest to others for export?
Cheers
George
Excellent news for once.
Well good news by all means let’s help the Ukrainians.Hopefully we’ll be able to sort out selfs out.Production should of never stop in the first place but that another argument .One thing this Ukrainian war has shown us you can’t afford to lost capabilities and never to reliant on other Nations. 👍 🇬🇧
Makes you realise that our tanks amongst other platforms were just for show as far as governing politicians were concerned, to hide superficially how weak we were and certainly not to actually fight a war because clearly even if 200 tanks were enough they would not have been able to be kept in any conflict due to barrel wear and no doubt many other irreplacable components. What level of delusion and incompetence is needed to pursue such a reckless policy. Pretty pointless having a Made in Britain tag if you can’t continue to build and rebuild the precious items you… Read more »
Morning mate, the word reckless is spot on I can’t believe who makes these decisions ,no spear components etc ? What we’re the Army to do put a bloody brush shaft in place of a gun barrel 🙄
Also, losing British facilities such as barrel manufacturers might make it so much harder to get export customers for military equipment.
The C2 is doing well in Ukraine. Compared to Leopards and the Abrahms tanks sent only one has been lost and the Ukrainian army treat the C2 as a very much prized piece of equipment rolling it forward to take out at long range other tanks and AFVs then pulling back behind cover. It’s a sniper tank. Very effective, especially at night when it’s superior optics give the crew a long range advantage.
So while UK is busy turning C2’s into C3’s, Ukraine would rather more C2’s.
Why don’t we go the full way and build As90 and 105mm light gun for ukraine , invite them into the CAMM missile program and donate several dozen warrior IFV s. Resart CVRT production and see if ukraine remote weapon stations can be mounted, this could provide the economic push the Govt needs
It’s good the UK is committed to supporting Ukraine but have to ask why they couldn’t have re-barrelled the AS90’s and kept some for the 🇬🇧. And why can’t they the-turret the Warrior’s and keep them running a bit longer too?
stand by for incoming from Graham👍😂
I’m prepared for that… Lol 😁
You know me too well Jacko!
Because both of them have replacements on the way (debatable for warrior but the Army seems to think so), so you would be spending momey on something you are soon not going to need (again, debatable but the Army doesn’t seem to believe in storing old but still useful systems).
Boxer is not a warrior replacement..yes I know, but it’s not..armoured infantry need an IFV…they could do a warrior upgrade for pocket change..keep the 6 armoured infantry in warrior, use boxer to equip 6 protected infantry battalions making them more effective mechanised infantry …then use the foxhounds for the light role infantry…that would make a massive uplift in the capability of the armies infantry battalions.. Then if you upgrade all the challenges you can keep 3 MBT armoured regiments…so you can have 3rd Div with 3 armoured brigades 1 MBT battalion, 2 armoured infantry…1st Div could then have 2 mechanised… Read more »
Pretty much mate, yes. Short of Ajax for 5 Bdes though, 1 Reg per AI Bde and one for a Mech Bde.
I suppose they could hold the Recce regiments as divisional assets…then if 1st division had 2 it would be less of an issue…or we could ( not a lot of chance I know)..find the money for an extra regiment of Ajax and Ares….it would be nice to have 5 heavy brigades…and it would make any UK contributions to deterring Russia meaningful …as in we could almost permanently deploy a heavy brigade combat team into Eastern Europe..and not just battalion battlegroups.
We had 5 heavy brigades up to 2010 when SDSR did it’s damage. 7 and 20 Armoured, 1 and 12 Mechanized, and 4 Mechanized, which came back to the UK first and had previously been Armoured. Though there was v little difference between and Armoured and a Mech Bde, all had tanks, AS90, Warrior ( plus bulldog Bns in the Mech Bdes ) and their full VS CSS allocation.
Getting that back now would be very difficult.
Interestingly, in BAOR in the 80s the Recc Regiments were at Divisional level. I forget when they became Bde level formations.
In the 90’s, when the BAOR became BFG, reduced from 4 to 2 Divisions and every formation that wasn’t in the BAOR was cut, the Scimitar Regiments generally survived the cuts and divisional Recce forces became Brigade Recce Forces. Also worth noting that for a long time the Divisional Recce Regiments would have been detached and have operated together as I (Br) Corps screening command in the event of war. I suspect the desire to retain that had a factor in keeping the heavy Recce Screen (shades of 1 DSR). The difference between Mech Brigades and Armoured Infantry Brigades (in… Read more »
Evening Dern.
Thanks for that.
On last para, yes, aware, as I noted in my post above, though I didn’t list 1 Warrior vs 2 Bulldog as didn’t see the need.
I recall a whole back there was also 1 Recc Bde. Wonder what the idea behind that was? I assumed it a mere admin formation like 1 Art Bde.
15 of our Bns were mech or armoured infantry. 9 + 6 Bulldog ( previously Saxon)
Went down to 9 post 2010 ( excluding Light Mech) 6 + 3 HPM.
The Strike business would have reduced it to 8. 4 + 4 Boxer.
Now just 5.
Utterly pitiful and far too small for a nation of our stature, population and wealth.
I think it was similar to the Commander Screening Force Idea? Not entirely certain though.
Me neither.
There is not much debate. The MOD issued a categoric statement in March 2021 at the time of the Defence Command Paper which followed the IR that year that Warrior upgrade would be immediately cancelled, that Warrior would continue unmodified and would start to be phased out from the middle of this decade and would be replaced by Boxer. It is not the Army who seem to think so – this came from the MoD Head Office. [I do not agree with the decision which is both political and monetary – a mere APC cannot properly and fully do the… Read more »
doing a work up of the warrior would be very cheap..if you think the complete challenge 3 refit is only just over 5 million each….a warrior upgrade would be cheaper than that.
Jeez, if it’s a bargain as you say and very doable and time is of the essence
why don’t they, even if it might be a little bit “second hand”? The bods in charge should be thinking along these lines if they want to save millions of quid which they can then spend elsewhere. Aren’t even the latest Apache’s re-enginneered from older frames?
The C3 refit is so cheap it beggars belief we are not just upgrading all 200-210 available vehicles to C3 standard and just got Trophy APS to all of them from the get go. Penny pinching in the extreme. It’s those kinds of incompetent decisions that come back to bite you in the arse when the SHTF.
*re-turret
Hi Quentin! I am sure you know there was a programme many moons ago to rebarrel 96 of the 179 AS90s with a 155mm / 52-calibre extended-range ordnance / modular charge system (ERO/MCS) – Braveheart – ISD 2003. A contract had actually been awarded to Marconi, then cancelled for slightly mysterious reasons, some saying it was because the South African propellant postulated did not meet IM criteria. All ancient history, but I am sure we would still have AS90 in service for another decade had that happened. But it could have been resurrected until recently; its too late now of… Read more »
Just rush-reading all the posts here during my lunch break. Just a quick thank you again, great historical information as as always and I’m enjoying all others informed comments and the banter!
Thanks mate.
While I agree with you @700 Glengarried Men I think it’s generally just easier to adapt existing production rather than restart an aged design. Probably better to double-down on Boxed and Ajax variants at this point.
This is good news. Hope someone is thinking of ramping up the acquisition of small arms and ammunition too. You know, Just in case.
Royal Enfield (or at least its parent Company) is still the biggest motor bike manufacturer in the World, so maybe we can in a classic example of reverse engineering, get a licence back to rebuild them here for the army. Hey it’s a start.
I’m confused. Is this son of Braveheart?
Good news.
I’m starting to think that having the capacity to rapidly build up the army is more important than predicting exactly what and how much we’ll need for a specific future war
Good news, but would like to see it extended so that we have armaments factories that are fully funded and supported in all critical areas. Expensive, but would put our defence on a lot safer footing.
Best we keep the steel industry running as well then, producing steel from pig iron etc
Quite a number of industrial sites have strategic defence roles. The Tories were too short sighted to accept that. Sold off too many vital assets.
Sheffield Forgemaster have there own melt shop on site with Electric arc furnaces
Couldn’t agree more we need to make our own steel 🇬🇧
They weren’t short sighted. They were corrupt and criminally incompetent. Corrupt because they sold off key infrastructure and defence capabilities to their mates in the city on the cheap. Knowing they would then be getting very lucrative non executive directorships in said companies or advisory/ consultancy posts when their political careers have ended. Now coming true.
Incompetent because they didn’t care, didn’t understand or were just too thick to realise our industrial military base is precious and once gone will take years and far much more money to regenerate.
Sadly true Mr Bell.
Amazing. An actual step in the right direction. Who’d have thought it.
Labour.
No charge.
Now let’s sort our steel industry sorted out.
Great result and fantastic to see the investment in Sheffield Forgemasters.
Not sure who the “bright” person was who persuaded the Government to purchase them, but bodes well for barrels as well as SMR’s for the Nuclear programme.
SMR?
He means Small Modular Nuclear Reactors.
I think you will find it was BW and it was literally a critical cliff edge Strategic decision that had to be taken. SFM produces some components that no one else in U.K can make which are fundamental to the production of Nuclear Submarines. But to continue they needed a level of investment that was outside the scope of SFM as a commercial concern.
So it’s now a fully Nationalised Firm owned and managed by MOD, and is getting £400 million investment in new facilities and tech.
Buying off the shelf foriegn kit means if the West goes to war we’ll be in a queue for replacements or to equip new raised units. That’s why home manufacture(either indigenous or licenced) is vital. Plus it doesn’t have to be imported via sea/air that could be intercepted by enemy forces.
Vital too to be able to make/replace CH3 120mm, RN 4.5″ gun barrels, plus licence to make the new 5″ & 57mm.
It really isn’t that vital though.
There are 15 frigates and destroyers with 4,5”, the order for 5” is 8 and 57mm is 5.
You can’t set up production for 5 or 8 guns. Even if you bought 10 barrels for each gun it still wouldn’t make production viable.
I live approximately 2 miles away from a factory which ( unknowingly) made barrel parts for Iraq’s ‘super Gun’, if we could make that 30 years ago we should be more than able to manufacture our own artillery now.
It’s all about economies of scale, as had already been stated. Likely we could make anything, but a dozen or so barrels (only) would be prohibitively expensive .
The money that could have been saved by upgrading all these things over the years instead of having to replace everything at once. Glad it’s not my money…….oops! But it IS my money..
AA
For both the railways and the ⚔ we need sovereign manufacturing capability, no caveat with exporting, but, that would help too.
Has anyone studied South Korea went from a tiny US held foothold on Korean peninsula to the industrial giant it is today? We need to learn the same trick.
Labour costs are your answer.
WTAF! I was under the impression that Barrow was still making and servicing barrels (relining)? If Barrow has not been at least reclining barrels. How in all that’s Holy, would the Army’s Chally 2 and AS90 be able to remain battle worthy if things had kick off with Russia or any other conflict needing heavy armour? It beggars belief that the Army/MoD have enough stocks of replacement barrels. At full charge these barrels will last perhaps 3 to 4 months, depending on how active they are. But what is just as worrying is that does anyone have the means to… Read more »
I posted months ago here that UK was not able to make guns anymore, most did not believed me.
…and was mentioned in the National Press from memory.
Just another reason for needing the upgrade to the RH-120.
I am so glad this has come out. We need a bigger army than one the size of a crowd at Old Trafford on a Saturday afternoon. Successive governments have run down our defences in all respects since the end of the “Cold War”. On a practical basis I would like to see UK building the new Leopard tank in Scotland . I bet Rheinmetal would love to expand there and it would tick so many boxes; levelling up, skilled workforce, minimum design costs. We need more than double the number of available tanks that are currently powered up. We… Read more »
I’m a bit puzzled. Are we planning to help Ukraine beat Russian forces back to their border or are we planning to have the two sides pummel each other to death over the next twenty years with the weapons of yesteryear.
Personally I thought the WW2 tactics had been banned by changes to the geneva convention or some other international treaty and we were thus complicit if Ukraine starts using such weapons against cities. How can we be sure they won’t?
Unfortunately, I think you’re right about having both sides pummel eachother for the next 20 years. There’s A LOT of money being/to be made from this war, and for that reason. I don’t think it’s going to end any time soon.
If it were possible to push Russia back to their border and out of Ukraine, I’d be all for sending more munitions etc. but I don’t think that’ll ever happen, not without it escalating the war quite a bit first.
I think the idea is to outlast Russia by emptying it of military hardware and sapping its will to fight through attrition. There’s only so long they can keep emptying Cold War scrapyards and putting rusted guns in the hands of kids, alcoholics and convicts.
Sorry, but what are you on about? What specific things do you think are banned?
Sorry I should have looked it up to be more specific. Geneva Convention 1949. The convention was altered What did the Geneva Convention of 1949 do? The Geneva Conventions define the rights and protections afforded to non-combatants who fulfill the criteria of being protected persons. The treaties of 1949 were ratified, in their entirety or with reservations, by 196 countries. The Geneva Conventions concern only protected non-combatants in war. These Conventions provide specific rules to safeguard combatants, or members of the armed forces, who are wounded, sick or shipwrecked, prisoners of war, and civilians, as well as medical personnel, military… Read more »
So it didn’t actually outlaw any specific tactics.
Bomber Harris wasn’t in charge of Tactics, Strategic Bombing was not tactical (it’s in the name; it’s strategic, or at best operational, not tactics). I have yet to see an actual WW2 tactic that can’t be legally used.
It defines civilians as protected persons thus compelling the attacking (or defending for that matter) force to protect civilians. Fire bombing Dresden does not fit that bill. Attacking the homes of civilians in order to disrupt the war effort and attampting to force them to surrender is a tactic. It was used by the RAF and it is no longer permitted under the Geneva Convention. This is why the Israelis and Putin are in trouble. So YES it does outlaw tactics.
Dresden as a target, included many dispersed sites, including Zeiss optics etc. it was also an area controlled by one of the most ruthless Nazi rulers. In practice it was a highly organized, high precision, raid by both the Americans (daylight) and the British (at night). In reality the Nazis invented the concept of firebombing to create a firestorm. Spain suffered from this during its Civil War, and as did cities like Coventry in the UK early in WWII during “The Blitz.” Indeed the term to be “Coventrated” comes from this. German civilians from Dresden later interviewed said: “what did… Read more »
That may well be true however the theory behind amending the Geneva Convention in 1949 was clearly an effort set the tone for future conflicts and eliminate terrorising the civilian populations, destroying their housing etc. Whilst the major powers have moved away from firebombing and more towards precision weapons there have been cases where countries have appeared to step over the line. Russia’s destruction of Ukrainian cities being one plus Israel’s high civilian casualty rates in Gaza. The issue with Ukraine is they may decide not to exercise restraint and stick to militarily necessary targets especially if armed with artilery.… Read more »
Agreed.
Hats off though to Ukraine for showing Western values in their restraint under such inhuman provications, but They must be enabled to strike back at Russian military and infrastructure targets in order to defend themselves and remove the invader from their country..
Maybe so, but if you do some research on the Bomber Command attack on Dresden you will see that the target areas were the built up areas of the city, the main marker force target was a sports stadium. Most of the industrial areas were not in the targeted area. It was a deliberate area bombing raid in which the target was the built up area and the population.
Crumbs, no need to be so condescending mate, You don’t know me or what I have done. I’m not saying it was not against the civilian structures. I was just trying to add some context. A lot of the industry (e,g, Zeiss) was dispersed in civilian buildings. The RAFs main force target markers were not always the intended target, but rather forward of the actual target. This was due to something called “creep back” where crews tended to release early and get the hell out of there. The US daylight raids which bombed on a lead aircraft suffered from this.… Read more »
So you just decided to ignore my point, cheers for that. You don’t seem to understand the difference between Tactics, Operations and Strategy so let me explain: Strategy is the top level (only superseded by Grand Strategy): The Decision to Bomb German Cities is an example of Strategy: It’s a decision of where to allocate resources at a National Level. Operations: The next level down, is the decision of how those reasources get allocated. We’ve decided that we want to target German Cities, at the strategic level, so now we are going to conduct specific Operations to further that goal.… Read more »
Hi Dern, My mistake let me explain. If you look to the dictionary you will normally find two interpretations of “Tactics” one will be the military one and one will be more standard noun plural noun: tactics an action or strategy carefully planned to achieve a specific end. “the minority attempted to control the Council by a delaying tactic” I used tactic in the non-military way mainly because the decision in question is not really a military one it is a political one. Also the Geneva Convention will have been drafted by politicians and lawyers. However (without checking) the Geneva… Read more »
The deliberate targeting of a civilian population IS outlawed in the Geneva Convention, so that would make the entire Bomber Command area bombing strategy illegal and would outlaw the policy of targeting civilian built up areas and population.
As would the indiscriminate firing of V1 and V2 rockets on London not to mention the Luftwaffes bombing of other European cities, so why single out Bomber command for recriminations?
UK needs steel and forging manufacture resistant to war! that means some traditional coal fired manufacture. What would an enemy take out first? power. That mean wind power solar power etc. All this green drive does not ensure national security or consider it which is fundamentally wrong
Once these industries are gone its very hard to get them back.
Found this on the internet showing Ajax testing. Also an Archer tucked away. I thought these were BAE Sytems rather than GDLS which is where the footage was shot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN5PRuVDu6E
Ajax is a GDUK product. Archer is a BAE one.
Someone, must of read a history book, and looked at things that were happening in Europe 1938 And thought surely history can’t repeat its self Why else would something such as this be happening looks like Net zero will be taking 2nd place
Such a vague and badly worded press release from the MoD. “this is the first step towards UK sovereign barrel production which has been developing for 20 years.” What is that supposed to mean exactly? Developing for 20 years? We had the capacity to produce barrels until about 2017/18, when, as rumour has it, BAE said to the MoD, “we are going to sell off our barrel manufacturing plant because you haven’t ordered any barrels in years, unless you plan to soon?” and MoD said “nope, sell whatever you want”. And SFM will just be forging the “blank” for the… Read more »
While on about industry and happy about this decision.Sadly according to sky news this morning the ship builder’s Highland & Wolf aren’t going receive any money for a government lone to help with there future . 😞
Excellent news. Now we just need to retain steel manufacturing of some sort and we will be back in self sufficient territory again.
The Abbot was British built, the AS90 was American built. So it is about time, That Britain got back in the weapons industry and make it own weapons.
The Harrier was British made, the Lighting two is America.
So instead of buying weapons from American
The British industry should have been used in decades after World War Two
Where Briton lead the way
The AS90 was built by VSEL in Barrow, not sure were you are getting the American bit from
I think it is great that we are starting production again. However I do think that the people of today still think of engineering has a dirty and low grade occupation compared with Doctors. where has in Germany a engineer is regarded has a highly professional job the same has a doctor. I think in this country we need to change the mindset of people in regard to what jobs people do and that must start at the school level.
Wow, John. Do people still think that about engineers after all these years? That is quite shocking. Sad too as that was my chosen career.
But you are probably right. I bet everyone in this country knows the difference between a surgeon or consultant, a GP, a nurse and a hospital porter….
but who would know the difference between a chartered engineer (CEng), an incorporated engineer (IEng), an engineering technician (Eng Tech) and a fitter or mechanic?
It is still galling that people think Kevin Webster off Corrie and the guy who services your gas boiler are engineers!
We seem to have forgotten the importance of artillery? How embarrassing. We shouldn’t need to be reminded of lessons learned the hard way, by a war in Ukraine.
I served my apprenticeship with Royal Ordnance .. RO Patricroft had vertical ESR for Chieftan Tank .. as an apprentice.. rough Maching the barrel was an art on purpose built twin bed lathes