General Sir Roly Walker KCB DSO, the Chief of the General Staff (CGS) and professional head of the British Army, has opened a new £5m logistics and production hub at the Romsey headquarters of Roke, a sovereign UK company at the forefront of defence and national security.
The CGS officially opened the new hub, which is named the Walker Building in his honour. It has been designed to provide an end-to-end capability in one dedicated facility: from innovation, design, testing and production to quality control, and shipping. It is purpose-built to provide Roke with the agility and scalability needed to meet customer demand faster than ever before, and will enable the company to innovate at a wartime pace – as called upon by Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the Strategic Defence Review.
“We were proud to welcome General Sir Roly Walker KCB DSO to our headquarters to open the new Walker Building. For us, this cutting-edge building is more than just a facility – it’s a force multiplier designed to give the UK’s armed forces and its allies a strategic advantage. By bringing every stage of development under one roof, we can accelerate delivery at a wartime pace, ensuring our troops and borders remain secure. The modern era of conflict demands we produce faster than ever before – with this new facility we stand ready to deliver at scale.
This hub also strengthens Britain’s sovereign defence and national security capabilities, reducing reliance on non-sovereign providers and giving us full control from concept to deployment. It’s a clear example of industry stepping up to meet the nation’s call for speed, resilience, and innovation.
Roke’s innovations have now been protecting UK troops and allies since 1956. As we move into our 70th anniversary, this milestone highlights how we will continue to protect our armed forces today and tomorrow.”
Marc Overton CB TD DL VR
Managing Director
The facility is a key investment from Roke to support future growth, enabling the business to continue to deliver the intelligence, technology and engineering solutions to support UK troops, protecting our forces, allies, borders and businesses. The new building is built for a 10-year expansion plan, with the potential for an extra 50% more capacity. This provides Roke with the space to scale, amass high numbers of parts, and accelerate all orders through to delivery, shipping anywhere the customer needs.
“I’m delighted to open Roke’s new logistics and production hub. Facilities like this show UK industry stepping up to match that ambition and supporting the vision of growth through transformation.”
General Sir Roly Walker KCB DSO
The British Army Chief of the General Staff
After officially opening the building, General Sir Roly Walker KCB DSO toured the facility and viewed some of the cutting-edge defence technology being developed by Roke. For 70 years, Roke’s innovations have safeguarded the UK, its armed forces and its allies. Roke’s people play a key role in developing cutting-edge technology – including AI, cybersecurity, robotics, and autonomous systems – that keeps the country safe now and ensures it stays ahead of emerging threats in the future.
