A new defence storage facility has opened in Cumbria to improve the delivery of military equipment to the UK Armed Forces.
The Longtown Defence Storage Facility will create 25 permanent jobs and has already supported 450 workers during its construction.
The facility, located alongside Defence Munitions Longtown, will store mission-critical items such as body armour and spare parts, and features an on-site rail link to ensure faster and more cost-effective transport to frontline forces.
Built by McLaughlin & Harvey, the site is roughly the size of 12 football pitches and forms part of the government’s wider plan to modernise defence logistics and strengthen the UK’s industrial base.
Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard, who opened the site on 14 October, said that “the opening of this state-of-the-art facility in Longtown will enhance our ability to store and deploy critical defence equipment to the frontline.” He added that the project demonstrates “how we’re modernising our defence logistics while supporting jobs here in Cumbria – supporting our Armed Forces and boosting warfighting readiness.”
The facility is equipped with advanced security systems and digital storage management tools to ensure efficient handling of defence assets. It is designed to work in coordination with the UK’s existing Defence Fulfilment Centres in Donnington, Shropshire, and Bicester, Oxfordshire, allowing faster response to operational demands.
Enhancements to the Longtown rail connection will also help reduce costs, emissions, and reliance on road transport.
Lieutenant General Simon Hamilton, Interim CEO of Defence Equipment & Support, described the project as “a testament to DE&S’s dedication to providing exceptional support to our Armed Forces.” He said the new storage capability will “ensure we can deliver the right equipment to the right place at the right time, and when it is not in use, store it safely, securely and sustainably.”
The Longtown facility incorporates sustainability measures such as energy-efficient lighting, automated climate control and water recycling, alongside designated nature reserve areas.
The size of 12 football pitches? I hope the 25 permanent staff are security.
Nah! Eleven a side, one ref and two assistants.
The facility is within a secure MoD munitions storage facility, and I think it’s a location that has a MDP presence as well.
Big site, long perimeter. Getting deeper into other areas within not so easy as riding a bike into Brize.
“Eggs in Baskets” !
But seriously this is great news, I’m guessing Solar Panels on the roof ? can’t really determine from the picture.
Then again “Cumbria” is not the best power generating place !!! Plenty of Cloud cover though.
Nice one, as I always say eggs in baskets and told uncle putin so it’s on the map now. God help us…..
No one’s building top secret underground storage for body armour.
I don’t know how people find a way to moan about everything, even a new warehouse.
If Norway can generate a large quantity of solar energy I’m sure Cumbria can do a job. Let’s hope its advanced security measures can keep Palestine Action out. Solar powered electric fences perhaps.
You’ve not been to Cumbria then !!!! 😂⛈️🌧️🌩️⛈️⛈️⛈️⛈️⛈️⛈️⛈️⛈️⛈️⛈️⛈️
I’m sure Sellafield would light up the place if an intercontinental diverted 2 minutes from the (Lockerbie) US flight path…
Barrow in Furness could add to a large scale heating event as well.
However, when out on your bike, take a gander from Wrynose Pass over the Irish Sea and there are plenty of turbines.
Meanwhile, Duddon has re-opened last week and, in a week there have been several crashes as Darwinism attracts the songs.
Does this mean we are thinking of actually storing some recently ‘obsolete’ equipment?
No, It’s the new TEMU Depot.
More of this please.
Legs got slightly wobbly at the mention of an onsite rail connection.
Seriously though I have to say I’m impressed that someone actually improved defence infrastructure. We talk a lot about needing more kit, and we do, but as the submarine fleet shows: the stuff is useless without the infrastructure to support it.
The rail connection already existed, for DM Longtown.
Other sites like Bicester, DM Kineton, and DM Glen Douglas also have the vital railway connection.
Ashchurch did too, unsure if it’s current now.
The new facility is welcome, but it bucks a trend of the several storage and munitions sites that have been lost after the Cold War in the never ending rounds of cuts.
Yeah what could possibly fo wrong, typical economist/pen pusher great foresight, all thats missing is the huge bullseye on the roof.🙄
What a pointless comment, it’s a warehouse not a nuclear missile base.
I guess that you would have built 1200 small sheds all over the country with underground rail links to every port and airport in the country or something equally preposterous.
No, his unspoken request for an expeditionary underground hardened storage bunker is perfectly reasonable! In fact, the carriers should get a storage bunker underground as well!
Not true, there are remote valleys in the Yorkshire Dale’s and the Lakes where accessed by underground railway… we have several tunnel boring machines available having completed the HS2 route, why not?
A strike on Derwent Valley would achieve nothing and it’s about time they rebuilt the overground Settle and Carlisle line.
Meanwhile, I’m going underground!
Well it does make sense to have a distribution hub further north than Bicester, Donnington, Stafford, which are all central.
Perfectly situated for supplying the defence of Prituni against the Denovians up North. #FreeAtropia
A Parliamentary Question needs to be asked as to the cost of the IT systems. Think of a number and add a few zeros.
So what are we putting in it? Have we ordered something?