What has opened in Telford

Rheinmetall has officially opened its new UK Gun Hall in Telford, Shropshire, restoring large-calibre weapon production to Britain for the first time in around two decades. The facility was opened on 22 October 2026, after an empty site was turned into an operating factory in just eight months.

The hall will manufacture barrels and breeches for 120mm and 155mm weapon systems, including equipment for the Challenger 3 tank programme. At peak capacity, Rheinmetall says it could produce up to 245 barrels a year, plus more than 50 breeches.

How many jobs are involved

The jobs figure needs to be read carefully. Rheinmetall currently employs around 685 people in Telford, including 35 at the Gun Hall itself. The company says the hall is expected to support over 100 highly skilled people as production develops, rather than employing that full number on opening day. The Ministry of Defence describes the same figure as 100 highly skilled jobs supported by the site.

That distinction matters for jobseekers. The immediate story is a growing specialist workforce, not 100 vacant posts advertised on a single date. Rheinmetall says it recruited specialist skills from across the Telford region and will keep growing its workforce as output rises.

Skills and training behind the roles

British employees trained at Rheinmetall's Unterlüß facility in Germany before bringing that expertise back to Telford. Breech production began in May 2026, followed by barrel production in June, ahead of the formal opening.

The project sits within the UK-Germany Trinity House Agreement and forms part of more than £200 million invested by Rheinmetall across its UK operations over the past five years. Anyone interested in future roles should watch Rheinmetall's own careers pages and the GOV.UK announcement, as no single closing date has been published.