ROF Radway Green facts for kids
The Royal Ordnance Factory (often called ROF) at Radway Green is a special factory in Cheshire, UK. It makes ammunition for the British armed forces. This factory is located near a small place called Barthomley and Alsager.
History of Radway Green Factory
The Royal Ordnance Factory was built in 1940 to help make ammunition during wartime. Later, in 1987, a company called BAE Systems Global Combat Systems took over the factory.
In 2008, the Ministry of Defence made a big agreement with BAE Systems. This agreement, worth £2 billion, meant that the factory would keep making ammunition for British forces until at least 2023.
The factory was updated in 2011 by BAE Systems. This big improvement cost £83 million. In 2017, the factory was sold to a group of investors from Korea.
In 2020, there were plans to build new storage buildings next to the factory.
Security at the Factory
In 1985, some items were stolen from the factory. After this happened, security was made much stronger at Radway Green and other Royal Ordnance Factories.
What the Factory Makes
The Radway Green factory has made many different types of ammunition over the years. This includes ammunition for various guns and purposes.
Some of the ammunition types made here include:
- 9×19mm NATO - This is a common type of ammunition, made since the Second World War and still produced today.
- 5.56×45mm NATO - This includes standard bullets, tracer bullets (which glow so you can see where they go), and blank ammunition (which makes noise but has no bullet).
- 7.62×51mm NATO - This is another standard type of ammunition, also including tracer and blank versions.
- 4.6×30mm - This is made for a specific type of gun called the Heckler & Koch MP7.
All the ammunition made at Radway Green today is approved by NATO. This means it meets high standards for quality and safety. You can see a special NATO symbol on each cartridge case. The cases also show "RG" (for Radway Green) and the year it was made.
The factory has its own special area for testing ammunition. Here, batches of ammunition are fired from different weapons. This is done to make sure the ammunition works correctly and performs as expected. They check things like how fast the bullets travel and how accurate they are.
A long time ago, a special railway line connected to the factory. This helped bring in materials like coal and send out the finished ammunition.
