UK Contracts Arms Makers to Make Artillery Barrels for Ukraine

A British government contract worth £61 million ($75 million) was placed with two British firms to produce artillery barrels in Yorkshire for Ukraine, a British Ministry of Defence (MoD) subsidiary announced on Wednesday.

According to a statement on social media by Defence Equipment & Support, which operates under the MoD, the contract was awarded to defense conglomerate BAE Systems and metalwork firm Sheffield Forgemasters.

“In addition and on behalf of the International Fund for Ukraine, we will send Gravehawk, a UK-designed air defense system, to their front line,” the update added.

The announcement followed a decision in the summer of 2024 to restart Britain’s dormant howitzer barrel production for the first time since the end of the Cold War.

Sheffield Forgemasters, owned by the UK MoD since 2021, would, under the contract, produce barrels for the AS 90 155mm self-propelled guns and the L119 105mm towed howitzers donated to Ukraine.

The company houses some of the largest foundry facilities in Europe and completed its biggest-ever pour with 607 tonnes of continuous molten steel transferred into a vast subterranean mold in 2015.

The decision to restart production came amidst the unexpected heavy use of artillery in the war in Ukraine and the subsequent need to replace barrels, which, on average, have a 1,500-2000 round life.

 “[We] 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 [renewing] UK sovereign barrel production,” an MoD spokesperson said in July 2024.

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Who is Sheffield Forgemasters?

Sheffield Forgemasters traces its origins to the 18th-century blacksmith Naylor Vickers and went through many iterations, including becoming part of the Vickers defense company and British Steel before merging with Firth Brown Steels to create Sheffield Forgemasters in 1983.

The company was nationalized in 2021 when it became fully owned by the UK’s MoD.

It produces large bespoke steel castings and forgings and operates two forging presses exerting a pressure of 4,500 and 10,000 tons.

In March 2022, following the invasion of Ukraine, the South Yorkshire-based company ended its supply contract with Russian natural gas supplier Gazprom.

Sheffield Forgemasters announced on July 23 that it would build a landmark 30,000 square meter (345,000 square feet) facility to form one of the world’s most advanced large machining facilities, with work on the site planned to start in Q4 2024.

The statement said that the new bespoke machines are already being designed and built by German machine tools specialist, WaldrichSiegen.