The British company BAE Systems will open a £25 million artillery factory in Sheffield as part of efforts to support Ukrainian forces in the fight against Russia.
That is according to The Telegraph, Ukrinform reports.
The company announced that the facility will begin making M777 towed howitzers next year, creating 50 skilled jobs locally.
It effectively reverses the company’s decision to wind down production of the guns in the UK, as the war in Ukraine requires weapons.
As noted, Kyiv received several of the guns from the US, Canada and Australia but many are now in need of refurbishment or repair. As a result, BAE has since been handed multimillion-pound contracts to produce replacement M777 parts for the US. In January this year, it was also handed $50m (£40m) by the Pentagon to revive production of titanium chassis pieces for the guns. The final value of the contract has not yet been confirmed.
Describing the heavy use of the guns in Ukraine, John Borton, managing director of BAE’s UK weapons systems business, said: “Everything has an engineering useful life attached to it, and because of the rate of usage we’re seeing actually we’re getting close to a point we haven’t seen before.”
The company has also concluded agreements with the Government to restock the UK’s ammunition supplies, including the 155mm shells used by the M777s. BAE has previously said that as many as eight unnamed countries have expressed an interest in placing new orders for M777s following the announcement that production was due to restart.
Photo: BAE Systems
Source: British defense company to produce howitzers for Ukraine
