14/05/2026
SOUTHAMPTON ACTIVISTS JOIN COORDINATED DAY OF WEAPONS FACTORY BLOCKADES TO MARK NAKBA WEEK
Earlier this morning, SDL members disrupted operations at the Leonardo UK Southampton factory in Millbrook for 1 ½ hours with large banners and effigies of dead babies covered in blood. Drivers were initially diverted away by security guards, but when all of two cops arrived half an hour later they soon had to call reinforcements to deal with the continuing blockade.
Leonardo UK is a key player in the UK's role in the F-35 fighter jet supply chain, the notorious "genocide jet" used to bomb Gaza, Iran and Lebanon. With Leonardo's global revenue reaching just under £17 billion in 2025, and with 180 sites around the world and about 253 working days in a calendar year, disrupting one Leonardo site for even one hour can impact revenues by just under £47 000.
Today's action coincided with blockades across the country to mark Nakba week, as activists confronted genocide enablers L3Harris in Brighton and BAE Systems in Samlesbury. In the seven months since the Gaza ceasefire, a ceasefire in name only, the Israeli regime has continued to strike and kill Palestinians every single day, while the British government continues to approve export licences to arm, train and equip the Israeli Occupation Forces carrying out these war crimes.
Campaign Against Arms Trade recently revealed that the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) approved two new licences for UK export to Israel, for trainer aircrafts (to be used for combat training) and targeting equipment. The export licence for the trainer aircrafts is likely to be used by the UK subsidiary of US company Moog.
Moog's Wolverhampton site was recently embroiled in a criminal scandal after it was exposed as trying to ship weapons to Israel through Belgium without the correct licence. The trainer aircraft licence will likely be used for Moog's production of components for the M-346, which is used to train Israeli combat pilots before they fly F-35s and F-16s to bomb the people of Palestine, Lebanon and Iran. The M-346 is produced by Leonardo in Italy.
The F-35 "genocide jet" has played a key role in Israel's ongoing attempts to eradicate the Palestinian population in Gaza. The F-35 has also been used by the United States and Israel to attack Iran and Lebanon, in a war of American-zionist aggression that the UK continues to facilitate through the US use of UK bases. This UK-US-Israeli alignment is further made clear as the British government prepares to move its warship, HMS Dragon, to the Strait of Hormuz. This is a move which will only make the perilous US-Israeli-Iran ceasefire more fraught, and moreover exercises western hegemonic power in alignment with the deadly aims of US empire.
Today's blockade also follows Leonardo's AGM in Rome, which activists confronted last week. Leonardo UK is part of Leonardo S.p.A., one of the world's largest arms companies headquartered in Italy. Leonardo's profits have steadily risen throughout the past several years of genocide. Leonardo's revenue reached 19.5 billion euros in 2025, up 11% from 2024. Leonardo UK has not published its annual financial report since the 2023 fiscal year.
A participant in the blockade states:
"We took action today in solidarity with Palestinian, Lebanese and Iranian people, and all others suffering under the boot of US empire as its cracks continue to widen. Capitalism in crisis gives rise to fascism, which is why it is no coincidence that we are seeing a rise of far right movements, and in some cases the open espousing of na**sm, in capitalist countries around the world, including Britain. The Shut Down Leonardo Southampton campaign has itself faced targeted far right harassment for many months now."
