At peak capacity, the 11,500-square-metre facility can produce up to 245 barrels across both calibres and more than 50 breeches a year. Breech and breech-block production began in May 2026, followed by barrels in June.
Rheinmetall said it converted the empty building into an operational manufacturing facility in eight months. The work included installing and commissioning equipment, training British employees and transferring specialist knowledge from Germany.
“Britain is back in the business of making the weapons that our Armed Forces need to defend the nation against our adversaries,” said Defence Secretary Wes Streeting. “From an empty site to full production in eight months, this is rapid reindustrialisation in action.”
Domestic production and supply chains
The factory provides a British manufacturing source for components needed by tank and artillery programmes. Rheinmetall intends to introduce steel from Sheffield Forgemasters into production and develop long-term supply relationships with British small and medium-sized businesses.
The Gun Hall forms part of more than £200 million the company has invested across its UK operations over the past five years. Its wider British activities include the Boxer mechanised infantry vehicle and Challenger 3 tank programmes.
“Today’s opening is an important milestone for Rheinmetall and for the United Kingdom,” said Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger. “In a remarkably short period of time, we have turned our commitment into a sovereign manufacturing capability that will strengthen Britain’s defence industrial base for decades to come.”
Workforce to grow with output
The Ministry of Defence said the facility supports 100 highly skilled jobs. Rheinmetall said 35 people currently work at the Gun Hall, with more than 100 expected as production develops.
British employees trained at Rheinmetall’s Unterlüß plant in Germany in precision manufacturing, quality assurance and specialist weapon production. The company also recruited workers from Telford’s engineering sector and plans further hiring as output increases.
“The official opening of our UK Gun Hall is a landmark moment for Rheinmetall UK and for Britain’s defence industrial base,” said Rebecca Richards, managing director of Rheinmetall UK. “In just eight months, we transformed an empty facility into an operational manufacturing capability by investing in British people, British skills and British industry.”
Cooperation under Trinity House Agreement
Streeting opened the factory alongside Chief of the General Staff General Sir Roly Walker and Papperger. The project combines Rheinmetall’s German manufacturing expertise with production capacity and a trained workforce in Britain.
Both the company and the ministry linked the investment to the UK-Germany Trinity House Agreement, signed in October 2024. The agreement seeks closer bilateral defence cooperation and stronger NATO collective deterrence.
The ministry also placed the opening within the government’s wider industrial and defence spending programme. It cited a £298 billion commitment over four years under the Defence Investment Plan.
