The government will spend £1.5bn on at least six new munitions and explosives factories to “better deter our adversaries”, Defence Secretary John Healey has said.
The factories will support up to 7,000 UK-built long-range weapons and create about 1,800 new jobs, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.
The announcement is part of the government’s strategic defence review (SDR), which is due to be published on Monday.
The Conservatives said they welcomed investment in new munitions but shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge called for “greater ambition for the pace and scale of rearmament our armed forces require”.
The war in Ukraine has highlighted serious deficiencies in the West’s ability to produce weapons and munitions, and senior British military officers have long warned about the UK’s depleted stockpiles.
As part of its review, the government said it would build new factories to make key munitions and explosives as part of its plans to have an “always on” munitions production capacity that could be scaled up quickly.
It also said the UK would purchase more than 7,000 British-built long-range weapons, including drones and missiles, over several years.
According to the MoD, the new funding will see UK munitions spend hit £6bn during this parliament.
Ministers said the extra investment – which came after Healy said that UK defence spending would rise to 3% of GDP by 2034 at the latest – would strengthen the armed forces and boost British jobs.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “A strong economy needs a strong national defence, and investing in weaponry and munitions and backing nearly 2,000 jobs across Britain in doing so is proof the two go hand-in-hand.
“We are delivering both security for working people in an uncertain world and good jobs, putting more money in people’s pockets.”
Healey said the UK’s defence industry would become an “engine for economic growth” and would “boost skilled jobs in every nation and region”.
“The hard-fought lessons from [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine show a military is only as strong as the industry that stands behind them,” he added.
“We are strengthening the UK’s industrial base to better deter our adversaries and make the UK secure at home and strong abroad.”
The Tories, however, said it was hard to believe Labour was prepared for “always on” munitions production when procurement had been “largely switched off for the past year”.
“We welcome investment in new munitions factories, but we don’t know when they will be ready, only that these orders should have been placed months ago,” Cartlidge added.
“Rachel Reeves has deliberately used the SDR to put an effective freeze on new orders for the kit our military needs,” he said.
Senior Western military chiefs have long been warning the UK would quickly run out of ammunition in the event of a war.
In 2021, the former head of the US Army in Europe, Gen Ben Hodges, told MPs in a simulated wargame most of the British Army’s inventory was exhausted after just eight days.
The former head of the British Army, Gen Sir Patrick Sanders, has also been calling for the UK to boost weapons production.
He recently said the Army’s diminished stocks of artillery rounds and missiles “would put hairs on the back of your neck”.
The UK has now significantly increased production of artillery shells.
New contracts have been signed to produce more complex weapons, such as next generation light anti-tank weapons (NLAW) and long-range Storm Shadow (also known as Scalp) cruise missiles.
Both have been supplied to Ukraine but production rates have, in the past, been slow. Exact numbers are not made public.
With the war in Ukraine, global demand for explosives and propellants has also been high.
The UK has often had to source materials from abroad.
