The UK has delivered the first British-made artillery barrels to Ukraine under a £61 million defence contract, marking the return of domestic production of forged gun barrels for the first time
in almost 20 years.
The initial shipment is part of an order for 150 artillery barrels being manufactured by Sheffield Forgemasters in South Yorkshire for defence company BAE Systems. The programme is expected to support hundreds of jobs at the state-owned steelmaker and across a UK supply chain involving more than 60 businesses.
The first four barrels have been sent to Ukraine as development units, allowing Ukrainian manufacturers to test production processes before full-scale deliveries. Sheffield Forgemasters is currently producing eight forged barrels each month.
The 105mm and 155mm artillery barrels are forged in Sheffield before being transported to Ukraine for final machining, assembly and integration into battlefield systems.
The announcement coincided with Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis's visit to Sheffield Forgemasters, where he met workers involved in the programme. Jarvis said the project would both strengthen Ukraine's military capabilities and help revive Britain's defence manufacturing sector.
"Steel forged in Sheffield defended Britain in its darkest hours. The barrels produced here in South Yorkshire – the first made in Britain in almost two decades – will help Ukraine on the battlefield, while creating good, skilled jobs in the UK," he said.
He added that the government's £298 billion Defence Investment Plan aimed to boost both national security and industrial capacity, describing it as part of a wider effort to "rearm Europe by reindustrialising places like South Yorkshire".
Sheffield Forgemasters employs around 780 people and specialises in high-grade steel forgings and castings for defence, nuclear and offshore energy projects. The company, which is owned by the Ministry of Defence, is undergoing a £1.3 billion government-funded modernisation programme that includes the construction of a new 13,000-tonne forging line and a 30,000-square-metre machining facility.
The artillery programme also follows the opening earlier this year of BAE Systems' new £25 million artillery factory in Sheffield, which has created around 100 skilled jobs and restored howitzer production to the city.
The government said it invested more than £420 million in Sheffield Forgemasters last year to strengthen Britain's sovereign steelmaking capabilities for defence programmes, including artillery production and components for the Royal Navy's nuclear submarine fleet.
The deliveries form part of the UK's continuing military support for Ukraine as Kyiv seeks to maintain supplies of artillery ammunition and equipment in its defence against Russia's invasion. The government said restoring domestic production of artillery barrels would reinforce Britain's defence industrial base while supporting skilled manufacturing jobs across the country. Photo by Noobuster007, Wikimedia commons.
