MoD site playing 'key part' in Army modernisation
BBCThe £250m redevelopment of a Ministry of Defence (MoD) site in Gloucestershire will play a "key part" in the modernisation of the British Army.
Storage facilities to house Army vehicles are being built at MoD Ashchurch, near Tewkesbury, as part of an infrastructure programme.
By 2027, the site will have capacity to store 4,000 vehicles, including tanks and Land Rovers, in a controlled humidity environment to prevent deterioration and ensure they are ready for deployment.
Brigadier Matthew Wilkinson said: "Ashchurch is a key part of the British Army's modernisation programme. We tend to get fixated upon new, shiny vehicles but unless you've got the infrastructure... the Army can't mobilise."
Belinda Lunn, who oversees the Vehicle Storage and Support Programme (VSSP), said six out of a planned 14 buildings had been completed.
"The storage is all controlled humidity environments and that means we can keep our vehicles at the right temperatures so they don't deteriorate," Ms Lunn said.
"In these storage sheds, they will be kept at an optimum temperature, which means, when we take them out for the Army, they're ready to go much more quickly."
About 400 people are working on the construction of the facilities at any one time, she added.
Brig Wilkinson said an important part of MoD Ashchurch was its stored operational fleet - a mix of vehicles that "are ready to do whatever the nation needs the British Army to do".
The fleet includes tanks, Land Rovers, and quad bikes.
"In the future, pretty much every vehicle you'd expect the Army to be operating will have some of their fleet here," said Brig Wilkinson.
"We've mobilised them here for all of our recent campaigns in the Middle East and Iraq and Afghanistan and before that, the peacekeeping campaigns in the Balkans.
"A lot of the vehicles that we've granted in-kind to Ukraine have come through Ashchurch, it's a key node in preparing them for a configuration that the armed forces of Ukraine can employ."
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