BAE Systems has announced a £280m order from the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to supply frontline battlefield munitions, with a potential to increase to over £400m.
This deal is set to create more than 200 jobs in Northern England and South Wales, adding to BAE’s already 1,200-strong UK munitions workforce.
“Current conflicts and tensions across the globe have highlighted the importance of sovereign manufacturing capabilities and the enduring partnership between BAE Systems and the UK Armed Forces,” the statement reads.
This fresh influx of capital will bolster the existing £2.4bn 15-year partnership agreement, driving up the production of key defence materials. Essential items such as 155mm artillery shells, 30mm medium calibre rounds, and 5.56mm ammunition, which the British Army heavily relies on for peak battlefield effectiveness, will see significant production increases.
Investment initiatives to facilitate the augmented production rate are already in motion, which include an additional 155mm machining line in Washington, Tyne & Wear, a new explosive filling facility in Glascoed, South Wales, and the re-establishment of the 30mm medium calibre manufacturing capability at both locations.
Charles Woodburn, Chief Executive at BAE Systems, expressed the company’s pride in its role and commitment to support their NATO allies. “This multi-million pound investment will enable us to significantly ramp up production and sustain vital sovereign capability to deliver cutting-edge munitions, whilst creating and sustaining highly-skilled jobs across the UK.”
Furthermore, the Secretary of State for Defence, Ben Wallace, highlighted the importance of the deal for the UK Armed Forces and domestic manufacturing. He stated, “The production of 155mm shells is a demonstration of our commitment to invest in our Armed Forces and sovereign manufacturing capabilities. This is good news for the Army and British jobs.“
Re-establishing the 30mm manufacturer capability at both locations! Interesting!
No mention of 40mm
So it could be that RN have to buy in 40mm P3 or are forced to keep 30mm for the majority?
So there will be pressure to utilise calibres that are UK manufactured to sustain facilities….
Law of unintended consequences?
No mention of 57mm or 4.5” – why h we certainly used to make.
Or could it be that the medium calibre one will be able to do 30/40/57mm??
Worth thinking about.
These are probably a boost to already running production of ammunition. the 155mm, 30mm and 5.56 are in high demand for Ukraine and to replace stocks. I don’t know what ammunition is in the existing £2.4b 15 year contract
5.56mm and 7.62mm was apart of it I think. there was an article on here when it was announced
The 30mm is specifically the 30mm x 170mm KCB rounds so has seen zero use in Ukraine as the only platforms that use it are all using the Rarden cannon. This is re-establishment of UK production as Warrior will remain in service longer than anticipated.
The overwhelming majority of money will be on 155mm, 105mm and 81mm mortar. 5.56 will barely get a shout as we’ve not needed to send much.
I think it would be logical for BAE to start planning for a Naval 155mm gun.
They did for T45 it got to prototype and was then canned.
The whole idea was a common ammunition stockpile…..
Than Cameron and Osborn for that bit of genius.
Yes maybe the interesting bit is the info and calibres we aren’t seeing? 👍
It was mentioned the other day that Warrior will go on into the 2030s. But it’s ok they are getting cameras…..
In fairness Warrior is still pretty amazing compared to anything it’s likely to face despite its current lack of rear parking technology.
If kits still going then we should keep it as long as practical.
Stop Press: ‘there is no going back with the Warrior’.
I agree we need an AFV with tracks.
We have got a few AFVs with tracks! But I know you mean IFVs specifically.
I would have preferred upgraded Warrior for the armoured infantry (AI), then as second choice CV90 (with CV90 recce to replace Scimitar.
Boxer would stuggle to be my 3rd choice for the AI as an infanrtry section carrier vehicle, particularly if it only has a MG (then it is just a wheeled APC like Saracen, but with better armour and the modular ‘trick’ and being a huge amount more expensive.)
Just the cannon is old and slow, loaded in 3 round clips! If only the warrior upgrade wasn’t sacrificed on the Strike concept alter, we would be pretty much good to go!
I am a big Warrior fan but it only really had two upgrades of significance in the last 36 years service! – BGTI and Bowman (replacing Clansman). Should have been upgraded regualarly throughout service – we always used to do that. Big disaster bundling three major upgrades together into the WCSP programme, compounded by doing this years late and then not driving the programme hard. Warrior would be world-class if WCSP had come in. Too much is made of aged hulls – 432 hulls are still with us 60 years on (not saying that is a great idea, obvs). Base… Read more »
Well it’s something 😂 but I’m all seriousness is it more about situational awareness as opposed to reversing? Maybe not running over the dismounts, or maybe when running them over the reverse dash cam has got the commander and driver bang to rights!!!!!
They get rear view cameras because it is a safety mod. That is a Priority 1 mod – it is done irrespective of how many years service remain. It does not suggest that Warrior has a long life ahead of it.
I had not heard that WR would go into the 30s – the March 2021 statement siad mid-20s. Where is this new info coming from?
At the moment it is conjecture from journalists who allegedly have contacts in the army/MOD. I was reading comments on Twitter from a few respected defence commentators but it seems their source was these journalists rather than any official announcement. All eyes on the Command Paper!
I fear the Command Paper may not give all the details.
You were correct. Also the army has seemingly dispelled the rumours about Warrior. It will leave service this decade. I have seen reference to a Future Soldier next steps report due in the Autumn. Perhaps answers aren’t too far away.
MoD is still saying 2025 for Warrior OSD are they not? I doubt it as that is barely 4 years away, and Boxer build is slow and stalled (Daniele reports comms fit problems).
Also – only a Kongsberg RS4 PROTECTOR RWS has been sourced so far and that cannot take a cannon, and a Boxer with just a MG is no replacement for Warrior.
Much is still unclear about Warrior replacement – timing and the weapons fit of its Boxer replacement.
30mm for the Warrior’s Rarden or Apache, DS30mm naval mounts and or some new 30mm mounts to come, maybe for Boxer? All of these?
Hope all and much more 👍
It’s for the re-establishment of production of 30mm x 170mm round specifically for Rarden as it will remain in service longer than expected.
Yes, my eagle eye picked that out!
As expected 👍 let’s hope for much more!
Yes. Does this imply that Boxer will come with a 30mm cannon? Would not need two locations for ammo production for Scimitar’s last few remaining years of service.
I guess it’s for warrior and RN ds30m cannons?
Hopefully a ramping up of measures to make us ready for any approaching war. Times are a-changing.
Pity the government’s attitude toward defence spending isn’t.
Interestingly, no mention of either 57, or especially, 40 mm stockpiles. Oversight or deliberate intent? 🤔
In the context of the enormous consumption of munitions in the UKraine war, while very welcome, £400 million is a drop in the ocean. Where is the order for the South Korean K9 SPG that the Army wants to replace the AS90 given to Ukraine? Or the additional order for the Archer artillery system? Preferably the 8×8 version
Good grief, but the 60,000 MoD civil servants move at a glacial speed.
Civil Servants can only do their political masters bidding. So it is nothing to do with them. If the government wants to pay for things and directs the MOD to buy it then they will. There is currently no funding to buy K9 Thunders or extra Archers.
No room for any UK K9’s, every road in Germany will be full with ammunition trucks trying to satisfy all the Polish guns if it ever kicks off with Russia. 😀
Mobile Fires Platform project has been accelerated. Current expectations are for an in service date during 2027. Selection of the platform can’t be too far away. They may well wait to see how the 14 Archers perform.
Would not surprise me if the DCP has some carrots like that. They always do. The 2015 SDSR “Carrot” was the 2 Strike Brigades, that actually masked cuts…but never mind!
I bet that bean-counters insist that Archer fully replaces AS90 – and that we don’t buy 179 of them!
Shows you how relatively low cost basic military procumnet is compared to bleeding edge when a £250 million in ammunition factory enhancement is compared to just £169 million on the other page for just 4 sets of optronic masts for SSBN.
Yep but it is a pretty damning indictment of decades of U.K. Government short sighted way of procurement.
COST has been the watchword for far too long and the rush to arm the Ukraine has just exposed how far we have fallen. So we are now spending £250 million to reestablishing and upgrade our own ability to manufacture our own ammunition.
I do wonder why there is no mention of the 40mm, 57mm and 5” ammunition for the new frigates ??
Cost an ammunition was a major factor in the war of Spanish succession and every war we ever fought.
Lloyd George built his premiership on an ammunition shortage and fixing it (with a sneaky fix using light shells when heavy were needed)
It’s always been the case that the British army is not an artillery heavy army.
That’s questionable. By 1815 we had the best Army and Naval artillery in the world. By 1918 we had mastery over the German Artillery although nothing to match the French 155’s.
Unfortunately our present potential enemies are and that is a bit of a problem, you are at a massive disadvantage unless you have Air Superiority to compensate. It isn’t surprising that unlike Russia, China and N Korea we aren’t artillery heavy, but it is probably based on our History and the level of air superiority we had over USSR. When we look at our opponents in the last century we were fortunate that Germany, Italy and Japan were no better than us. In fact except for one or two notable exceptions (88mm) we had the better and far more mobile… Read more »
I think we had a lot of artillery in WW1 and it was said that 25% of the army’s manpower in WW2 was RA. Now the RA is about 9% of army manpower as I recall. Manpower being a very rough indicator of artillery capability as I do not have the numbers of artillery pieces.
Yes, the cost is in the baseline capability. Expanding that with more lines is relatively cheap – as we can see here. I suspect this is more about having the lines and a stockpile of raw materials. As well, of course about backfilling what has been used from MOD stores. Also provides an export opportunity for high quality rounds? There is going to be a lot of backfilling of NATO stores for years. In order to keep the lines economic they will have to be run so this may force the forces to utilise more live firing to keep sticks… Read more »
It will be like COVID vaccines, in three years time we will be throwing away 155mm shells and NATO will be awash in them.
We don’t even have 100 guns that can fire them.
100 guns can go through a lot of rounds.
So the manufacturing capacity has got to match the rate they are expended at.
Otherwise firing rate is dependant on stock depletion not battlefield needs.
Which is exactly what the Russians are experiencing, provoking rebellion.
Jim wrote:
The order is been used to replenish British stocks which events in the Ukraine have been found to have been set too low (by so called experts) on the belief that a long drawn out war is no longer possible .
Once the stocks are bigger then the stock turnover will be bigger given everything has a use by date?
The good news is that 155mm can stay in stockpile for 30+ years…
This is obviously good news and well overdue, and I don’t want to take away from that fact.
All I’ll say is that we are well away from have the native industrial military production base to cater for even the most modest national requirements. But this helps, and in some important aspects. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for more positive developments.
There’s me keeping things more positive haha
No mention of 120mm for CR2, stockpiles are low and with the platform probably still going to be around till the end
of the decade you would think that they would want to replenish the war stock.
Finally! I have been waiting to hear this for a year and a half since the war started. Great news.
Good news! It will be interesting to know where the raw materials come from because we only have sovereign capability if the supply chain is secure.