Sheffield artillery barrels reach Ukraine as UK rebuilds arms capacity
The UK has shipped its first domestically produced artillery barrels in two decades to Ukraine, marking a concrete step in Europe's push to rebuild its defence industrial base.
Sheffield Forgemasters has delivered the first four of 150 planned artillery barrels to Ukraine under a £61m contract. The 105mm and 155mm barrels, produced in collaboration with a nearby BAE Systems artillery factory, will be integrated with Ukrainian artillery systems. These initial shipments are expected to help Kyiv test and develop its own domestic manufacturing facilities.
This delivery marks the first time in almost 20 years that forged artillery barrels have been manufactured in the UK. The long gap in production highlighted a broader European vulnerability: a heavy reliance on legacy stockpiles that left the continent scrambling to sustain Ukraine's defence against Russia.
Restoring this industrial capacity required direct state intervention. The Ministry of Defence nationalised Forgemasters in 2021, determining the purchase was necessary to secure critical British defence programmes. That strategic move was followed last year by a government pledge to invest more than £420m in the company to expand its manufacturing capabilities.
The Sheffield operations are now scaling steadily, producing eight barrels a month. The BAE Systems facility involved in the integration process was opened just last year by John Healey, the previous defence secretary, underscoring how rapidly the UK is attempting to rebuild its disrupted supply chains.
For European industries and investors, the Sheffield output represents a tangible example of the continent's shifting defence economics. The UK and its European allies are actively moving away from simply depleting their own arsenals, choosing instead to fund the reindustrialisation of their military supply bases.
During a tour of the plant on Wednesday, Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis connected the industrial revival directly to European security. "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. Jarvis summarised the broader economic strategy as being about "rearming Europe by reindustrialising places like South Yorkshire."
