Britain “warming up” weapon output to help Ukraine, says Wallace
Britain is "warming up" its production lines to replace weapons sent to Ukraine and expand production of artillery shells to help Kyiv expel Russian forces, Defense Minister Ben Wallace said on Wednesday.
That’s according to Reuters, Ukrinform reports.
Wallace said he believed Britain was in a good place to help Ukraine but needed to sustain the provision of weapons.
Asked about whether Britain had the commercial capacity to continue to provide Ukraine with weapons such as artillery shells, Wallace said: "We have laid contracts ... We've started to already now receive some deliveries of that for our own restocking and also some of it to Ukraine."
He said in the past, governments would have looked in their stockpiles and "blow the dust off" equipment to see what was there, but now the game had changed with "a much more aggressive and dangerous Russia on the edges of Europe".
He said shells could be made fairly quickly but "the key is to make sure that we place the orders, and we've started placing those orders over the last 10 months and that starts to sort of warm up those production lines".
"Absolutely part of the effort this year is sustainability - how can we, the international community, stimulate supply chains, how can we stimulate our own supply chains for our own equipment and that's been one of the changes," he said.
Britain has already given more than 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers basic training in drone warfare and has been training tank crews since late January, part of what ministers say is proof of the country's leading role in supporting Ukraine.
Wallace has frequently said any delivery of fighter jets would be a long-term project, possibly once the Russian war on Ukraine was over, and would not be drawn on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's offer of longer-range weapons.
Wallace said Britain could offer additional Challenger tanks to the 14 already promised, but that it would depend on the threat level and also the country's defense needs.
"The key is to make sure we can maintain them through this year. With Russia using the meat grinder tactic of its own where the Russian army doesn't care about its own people, ... we have to make sure that is not able to be successful," he said.
"For now I just need to see if there's any more money I can have ... to get me through inflation and get me through some of the other pressures," he said. When asked whether he felt Sunak understood what was needed, he added: "I am reassured."