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The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence has confirmed plans to regenerate the UK’s ability to produce forgings for gun barrels and repair of international military vehicles.
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The domestic defence industry announcement follows a meeting between UK Defence and business secretaries with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and industry leaders in London on 18 July to discuss deeper cooperation and the need to boost industrial production for Ukraine.
“The Ministry of Defence 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,” according to a statement published by the UK MOD.
In addition, President Zelenskyy met with defence industry senior representatives from UK Export Finance, BAE Systems, Thales UK, MBDA, KBR, and Babcock at Lancaster House following updated contracts in support of Ukraine.
Babcock International has announced a six-month extension to its contract with the MOD to continue to provide the maintenance, repair and asset management of vehicles.
“The UK defence industry’s support to Ukraine continues and is unwavering. It is an honour for ADS and our members to work in such close collaboration with our partners,” Defence trade organisation ADS chief executive officer Kevin Craven said.
“Our industries have clear opportunities for collaboration, done so with the knowledge that we are protecting our collective security.”
UK Defence Secretary John Healey said the United Kingdom stands in support of Ukraine.
“The Ukrainians are fighting with huge courage, the military and civilians alike. Our new government has already pledged to step-up support, confirming £3 billion a year to help Ukraine and a new package of ammunition, anti-armour missiles and artillery guns,” he said.
“Meeting with industry leaders, I emphasised the government will continue to work in partnership with industry and the need to boost industrial production of vital military kit for both Ukraine and our own Armed Forces.”
