09/09/2025 | Press release

Rheinmetall is powering ahead with its landmark the UK Gun Hall project, with the location confirmed as Telford – a decisive step towards restoring Britain’s ability to manufacture large-calibre weapons on home soil for the first time in decades. The virtual ground-breaking ceremony for the UK Gun Hall will take place on Thursday, 11 September 2025, at around 2:35 p.m. at Rheinmetall's DSEI stand S9-110. The UK Gun Hall will provide sovereign British capabilities, strengthen the nation's security, reinforce NATO readiness and fuel a new era of British defence manufacturing.

Armin Papperger, CEO and Chairman of Rheinmetall AG, said: “The UK Gun Hall is a strategic asset that cements Britain’s place among NATO’s leading industrial powers. The progress we’ve made since our first announcement shows our determination to deliver this capability when it’s needed most.”

Since announcing the multi-million-pound investment earlier this year, Rheinmetall has wasted no time. 
Orders have already been placed for critical long-lead machinery, ensuring rapid installation once 
construction milestones are reached. Advanced design work is shaping a facility optimised for high-volume, large-calibre weapon production and built with future expansion in mind. Facility preparation works 
are underway, and early engagement with UK steel producers and local manufacturing SMEs is laying the foundations for a resilient domestic supply chain.

The UK Gun Hall forms part of a wider cooperative framework between the UK and Germany under the Trinity House Agreement, strengthening shared defence industrial capabilities. It complements Rheinmetall’s established weapon and munitions production facility in Unterlüß, Germany, creating a resilient, 
transnational supply chain to support NATO and partner nations.

The UK Gun Hall will be central to the British Army’s transformation under the Strategic Defence Review, delivering the firepower and industrial resilience needed to 10 x warfighting capability by 2030. It will directly support the Challenger 3 programme, Boxer production, and future artillery platforms, while also enhancing the UK’s export potential.

Over the next decade, the project is expected to create around 100 highly skilled jobs within the facility, with further employment supported across the wider UK supply chain. Apprenticeship and graduate programmes are already in development, ensuring the site will become a centre of engineering excellence for the next generation.

Part of a broader sovereign capability strategy, the UK Gun Hall complements Rheinmetall’s ongoing expansion in Telford for Boxer and Challenger 3 production and the establishment of Rheinmetall House in Bristol as a national hub for collaboration and innovation. Together, these initiatives represent a decisive strengthening of Britain’s defence industrial base and a long-term investment in national security.