UK to go on munitions factory building spree to deter enemies
London will invest US$2 billion to set up six munitions factories to bolster the country’s defence industry and military readiness
The UK will create an “always on” munitions production capacity to allow it to scale-up its defence industry when needed, as it increasingly shifts to a war footing with Russia’s assault on Ukraine showing little sign of ending.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government will invest 1.5 billion pounds (US$2 billion) to build six munitions factories, designed to bolster its defence industry and stockpile weapons to meet greater demand, the Ministry of Defence said. The review will also focus on the UK’s “warfighting readiness” designed to deter enemies.
The move comes ahead of the publication of a new defence strategy on Monday that will set out the biggest threats Britain faces and whether it has the resources to meet them.
The UK’s ordnance stockpiles have run dry following decades of underinvestment as well as the recent support for Ukraine. While it does manufacture much of its own munitions, a decision by the last Labour government meant that it outsourced its explosives manufacturing to the likes of the US and France.
The UK, is in part, addressing its chronic reluctance to invest in its own defence industry for decades, which has seen the size of its own army fall to its smallest since the Napoleonic era. It recently announced that the new strategy will “end the hollowing out” of the UK armed forces, which loses as many as 300 personnel a month, by investing an additional 1.5 billion pounds to improve military accommodation.
“We are strengthening the UK’s industrial base to better deter our adversaries and make the UK secure at home and strong abroad,” John Healey, the defence secretary, said.
The Ministry of Defence declined to say which defence companies would build the new factories.