War is a racket: Brits to open a new arms firm hub in Ukraine

The British are opening a new hub for arms firms in Kyiv. The fully-funded three year project will make sure British arms firms can cash in on the grinding war between Russia and Ukraine. The government wants to open up the market to British firms large and small.

Defence secretary John Healey said:

An Armed Forces is only as strong as the industry that stands behind them.

He insisted that the new facility would make sure even small UK arms firms could get involved. This was all framed as “supporting Ukraine” “and securing peace”:

This new centre will supercharge that effort and ensure British companies, no matter how small, can support Ukraine in the fight today and help secure the peace we hope to see tomorrow.

The centre will be operated by the National Armaments Director Group. The current director is Rupert Pearce, appointed in October 2025.

His role is to:

deliver the national arsenal needed for the UK Armed Forces to execute defence operations demanded by the current global threat picture.

LBC reported:

Based in secure facilities, it [the arms hub] will provide an export and matching service to link UK firms with Ukraine’s urgent military requirements, while sharing real-time battlefield data so innovations can be tested, adapted and fielded in weeks rather than months.

Turning Ukraine into an arms base

It’s been a busy January for the war business.  On 7 January the UK helped the US capture a Russian flagged ship. And on 11 January, the UK said it was building long-range ballistic missiles for Ukraine. Just days later, on 14 January, defence sources told The Times the British could start sending their special forces to snatch more shadow fleet shipping.

But British plans to further militarise Ukraine go back to 2023. As the Canary reported in June that year:

The Ukrainian government and global arms firm BAE Systems are in talks to set up a factory in the country. Details of the deal are hazy beyond initial announcements, but the global arms trade has profited massively from the war in Ukraine.

Reuters were first to pick up the story after Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky had a video call with BAE Systems bosses.

Zelensky told reporters of BAE Systems at the time:

It is indeed a massive manufacturer of weaponry, the kind of weaponry that we need now and will continue to need.

He added:

We are working on establishing a suitable base in Ukraine for production and repair. This encompasses a wide range of weaponry, from tanks to artillery.

On 11 September 2025, the United Nations (UN) reported global arms spending had risen for the tenth straight year. The UN’s basic lesson: more spending on war does not yield peace. As UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres warned:

At this critical moment, the international community must confront the stark reality that rising military expenditures are not yielding greater peace but are instead undermining our shared vision for a sustainable future.

In the words of the highly-decorated US marine general Smedley Butler, who turned against war and exposed a fascist coup in the US in the 1930s, “war is a racket”. And it’s a racket the British always seem to be up to their eyeballs in.

Featured image via the Canary