The former Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF), Radway Green manufactures

small arms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes c ...

ammunition for the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

armed forces. It is located in the hamlet of Radway Green near

Barthomley Barthomley is a village and ancient parish, and is now a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 and the 2011 census' the parish had a population of 202.

near

Alsager Alsager ( ) is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located to the north-west of Stoke-on-Trent and east of Crewe. The town's population was 13,389 at the 2021 census. ''The Mere'' is a ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

in the UK.

History

The

Royal Ordnance Factory Royal Ordnance Factories (ROFs) was the collective name of the UK government's munitions factories during and after the Second World War. Until privatisation, in 1987, they were the responsibility of the Ministry of Supply, and later the Ministr ...

was established in 1940 to produce ammunition, and was acquired by

BAE Systems Global Combat Systems BAE Systems Platforms & Services is a wholly owned subsidiary of BAE Systems Inc. and is a large provider of tracked and wheeled armored combat vehicles, naval guns, naval ship repair and modernization, artillery and missile launching systems, a ...

in 1987. On the 20 August 2008 the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

announced a £2bn contract with BAE Systems to supply British forces with small arms and medium calibre ammunition, guaranteeing production at the Radway Green site until at least 2023. The plant was redeveloped in 2011 by BAE Systems at a cost of £83m. The manufacturing facility, then owned by Crewe Assets, was let to BAE Systems until 2036. In 2017, Crewe Assets sold the site to a consortium of Korean institutional investors for £56m. In July 2020, plans were submitted to build new warehouses on land adjacent to the manufacturing facility.

Thefts from factory

On 21 January 1985 a former quality controller at the factory was sentenced to six years imprisonment after pleading guilty to conspiracy to steal, three charges of theft and asking for eight other offences to be taken into consideration. After the thefts were discovered, it took a team of four

Ministry of Defence Police The Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) is a civilian special police force which is part of the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence. The MDP's primary responsibilities are to provide armed security and counter terrorism services to designated hig ...

officers a fortnight to recover around £26,000 worth of goods stolen from the factory (which included a rocket launcher) from the man's house in nearby Alsager. The man's son, an apprentice at the factory, "resigned in disgrace", but charges were left on file, and he was not prosecuted. The thefts were believed to date back at least ten years, and the prosecution stated that there was some evidence that the man had also stolen from

ROF Chorley ROF Chorley was a UK government-owned munitions filling Royal Ordnance Factory (Filling Factory No. 1). It was planned as a ''permanent'' Royal Ordnance Factory with the intention that it, unlike some other similar facilities, would remain op ...

when he was based there. In the wake of the thefts, security was tightened across all Royal Ordnance Factories.

Manufacturing operations

The facility has manufactured a wide range of ammunition, including: * .38 S&W - (Mk IIz

ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used f ...

) - roduction ended in 1960s*

.303 British The .303 British (designated as the 303 British by the C.I.P. and SAAMI) or 7.7×56mmR, is a calibre rimmed rifle cartridge. The .303 inch bore diameter is measured between rifling lands as is the common practice in Europe which follows th ...

- (

, blank, tracer, incendiary, armour piercing and proof testing) - roduction ended in 1973*

.280 British The .280 British was an experimental rimless bottlenecked intermediate rifle cartridge. It was later designated 7 mm MK1Z, and has also been known as 7 mm NATO, .280/30, .280 Enfield, .280 NATO, 7 mm FN Short, and 7×43mm. Li ...

- ('7 mm Mk 1z' - small amounts for developmental purposes of the Enfield EM2 and Taden gun in the 1950s) - roduction ended circa 1956* 4.85×49mm - (small amounts for developmental purposes of the

L64/65 The L64 (also called the ''Enfield Individual Weapon'') was an intermediate calibre British bullpup layout prototype assault rifle developed in the 1970s. At one time it was known as the 4.85 Individual Weapon, a reference to the calibre of the ...

in the 1970s) * 9×19mm NATO - (standard FMJ, starting in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and still in production). 9mm 1Z ammunition was superseded in March 1944 by the more powerful 2Z cartridge. * 5.56×45mm NATO - (standard FMJ, tracer and blank ammunition) * 7.62×51mm NATO - (standard L44A1 FMJ lus "Green Spot" and L42A1 for sniper use tracer and blank ammunition) - roduction of 7.62mm started in late 1953ref> * 4.6×30mm - (standard FMJ) for the

Heckler & Koch MP7 The Heckler & Koch MP7 (German: ''Maschinenpistole 7'') is a personal defense weapon chambered for the HK 4.6×30mm armor-piercing cartridge designed by German defence manufacturer Heckler & Koch. It was designed (together with the new cartri ...

All ammunition currently produced at Radway Green is

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

certified i.e. bears the NATO roundel as part of the headstamp on the cartridge case surrounding the

primer Primer may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Primer'' (film), a 2004 feature film written and directed by Shane Carruth * ''Primer'' (video), a documentary about the funk band Living Colour Literature * Primer (textbook), a t ...

. Additionally, headstamps bear the ammunition type ID, the initials "RG" plus the year of production e.g. "L18A1 RG 11" for 5.56×45mm

blank cartridge A blank is a firearm cartridge that, when fired, does not shoot a projectile like a bullet or pellet, but generates a muzzle flash and an explosive sound ( muzzle report) like a normal gunshot would. Firearms may need to be modified to allow a bl ...

s manufactured at Radway Green in 2011. Headstamps on cartridges manufactured during the

and in pre-NATO years bear the initials "RG", the year of production and the ''

broad arrow A broad arrow, of which a pheon is a variant, is a stylised representation of a metal arrowhead, comprising a tang and two barbs meeting at a point. It is a symbol used traditionally in heraldry, most notably in England, and later by the Brit ...

'' to signify

property. The ordnance factory has its own firing range on-site, where batches of ammunition are periodically test-fired from a variety of different weapons. The intention of test-firing is to check for proper function and performance within contract requirements such as reliability, consistency (e.g. velocity tested via

gun chronograph A ballistic chronograph or gun chronograph is a measuring instrument used to measure the velocity of a projectile in flight, typically fired from a gun. History Benjamin Robins (1707–1751) invented the ballistic pendulum that measures the moment ...

) and accuracy at various distances from the muzzle etc. A private, dedicated spur once led off the main former

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line to facilitate transfer of coal and other raw materials inwards and the final product outbound.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rof Radway Green Filling factories Royal Ordnance Factories in England Buildings and structures in Cheshire