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Great Britain plans new ammunition factories

2025-06-03 08:41:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

With a new defense strategy, the United Kingdom aims to strengthen its arms industry and increase ammunition production. This step is also related to Russia's war against Ukraine.

Britain plans to build at least six new factories to produce weapons and explosives. The Ministry of Defence has announced that the government intends to invest 1.5 billion pounds (about 1.8 billion euros) in this. In addition, the army will buy up to 7,000 long-range weapons manufactured in the UK. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has shown in a harsh way that an army is only as strong as the industry behind it, said Defence Secretary John Healey. The strengthening of the army is intended to intimidate adversaries and make the country safer and stronger.

Starmer: Focus on war preparedness

"We are in a world of increasing threats," Healey told the BBC. The new defence strategy therefore foresees an increase in British arms production and aims to create "an ammunition production capacity that is always available". The new defence strategy aims to make the country "ready for war", British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told The Sun newspaper. "We will make Britain's war readiness the central purpose of our armed forces again." Due to rising tensions around the world, the new strategy should serve as a "blueprint for strength and security in the coming decades", Starmer said.

Defense spending will increase

The British Prime Minister announced the increase in defense spending before his visit to US President Donald Trump in February. By 2027, spending is expected to increase to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product. So far, it is around 2.3 percent. In the financial year 2023/24, 53.9 billion pounds (about 63.9 billion euros) were invested.

A further increase to three percent is planned for 2029. Defence Minister Healey expects his country to be spending three percent of its gross domestic product on defence by 2034 at the latest. Healey told the BBC that he had no doubt that this would happen in the next legislative period./ DW