Rheinmetall opens UK gun-barrel plant as Britain seeks to rebuild defence production

Production of large-calibre gun barrels has returned to the UK after a 20-year gap with the opening of a Rheinmetall facility in Telford, Shropshire. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting attended the opening and said Britain was “back in the business of making weapons” for its armed forces, according to BBC News. The German defence company’s UK Gun Hall will make barrels and breeches for 120mm and 155mm weapon systems.

The BBC said the products will support the RCH 155 and future artillery platforms, while the Guardian reported that the initial output is for German-made, self-propelled remote-control howitzers using Nato-standard 155mm ammunition. Future production will include barrels for the Challenger 3 tank and a planned British version of the howitzer. The factory was built and brought into production rapidly.

Rheinmetall chief executive Armin Papperger told the Guardian that investment began after an informal agreement with the British army’s chief of the general staff, Gen Sir Roly Walker, before a formal contract was in place. The first barrels were produced eight months later. The process involves drilling through a 3.2-tonne, eight-metre cylinder of specialised steel alloy, honing the surface and cutting spiral rifling into it.

A specialised machine then applies pressure of about 15,000 times the air pressure at sea level to harden the barrel for the force generated by firing shells. The Guardian said the equipment is one of only two machines of its type in the world. The facility is expected to make 245 barrels and 50 breeches annually, according to the Guardian.

Papperger said capacity could theoretically rise to 1,000 barrels within four or five years if sufficient orders were placed. He also said Rheinmetall was discussing additional ammunition production in Britain, with a decision expected within six to eight months. The BBC reported that the facility has supported 100 jobs, while the Guardian said 35 people would initially work in the gun hall, rising to 100 at full capacity.

Rheinmetall said workers from Telford had trained at a German facility in precision manufacturing, quality assurance and specialist weapons production. The company employs about 1,300 people in the UK, according to Papperger’s comments to the BBC. The opening comes as European states seek to expand defence manufacturing following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Walker said Ukrainian and Russian forces fire tens of thousands of artillery rounds each day and that drones cannot reproduce the weight of fire generated by conventional artillery. Papperger said Telford-made barrels should last about 4,000 shots, compared with roughly 500 for a Russian barrel, though the reports provide no independent verification of those figures. Streeting said Britain needed not only to innovate but also to manufacture at scale and field military capability quickly.

The Guardian linked the investment to a 2024 agreement between then-prime minister Keir Starmer and German chancellor Olaf Scholz to deepen defence cooperation. Rheinmetall is also involved in the UK’s Boxer armoured-vehicle programme and upgrades to Challenger tanks. The plant is being presented as part of a broader reindustrialisation effort, but its direct employment effect is limited.

The Guardian noted that the gun hall’s workforce would be small compared with the wider Telford operation, most of whose employees work on Challenger and Boxer vehicles in a joint venture with BAE Systems. The reports agree that the facility restores a capability Britain lost, but differ in their emphasis on immediate job creation and future production potential.