Spare rudders and drive shafts among heavy items moved in MoD storage changes

The UK MoD's Longtown Defence Storage Facility seen upon its completion in Cumbria in April 2025. (MoD/Crown Copyright)

Large, low-demand defence inventory such as spare rudders and drive shafts for large surface vessels will be stored at the UK Ministry of Defence's (MoD's) new storage facility in Longtown, Cumbria, the MoD has told Janes .

Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), the MoD's procurement arm, will run the GBP98.5 million (USD132 million) Longtown Defence Storage Facility (LDSF) that was finished in April.

Designed to improve supply chain operations and increase departmental storage, the 76,000 m² main building, along with “racking of various types and block storage, will have approximately 150,000 m³ of storage space”, an MoD spokesperson said in May.

The LDSF will likely contain vehicle parts and spares, but not vehicles in their completed state, the MoD spokesperson said, adding that, “the floors at LDSF are designed to store large, heavy inventory. The building has been designed to hold items such as spare rudders and drive shafts for large surface vessels, and other such materiel that is currently taking up much-needed space at other facilities”.