Shut Down Leonardo Southampton

02/11/2026

29/10/2026

At yesterday’s vigil at the Leonardo UK Southampton factory, we were once again confronted by a racist and confused group of far-right “patriots” who felt the need to “defend” the workers from our protest, by causing more disruption to the workers themselves.

Thank you so much to all who joined us at the factory for support. It was wonderful to build solidarity with those who had travelled from other campaigns to support, as well as those who have been steadfast in showing up for Palestine every week for the past nearly three years. Despite the far right countering our vigils for months, we are committed to continuing to show up until the weapons stop flowing to the zionist genocide of Gaza.

Because as much as the far right tried to convince the police that our banner stating “Leonardo kills kids” was “inciting violence”, the truth is that Leonardo is indeed killing kids. Leonardo’s role in the F-35 “genocide jet” supply chain being at the forefront of these attacks. F-35s are used to drop 2000lb bombs over Gaza, as the death toll continues to rise since last year’s so-called ceasefire.

Leonardo UK’s Edinburgh site produces laser-targeting components for the F-35 genocide jet, while Leonardo in Southampton specialises in infrared detectors and thermal imaging sensors for missile guidance and target identification. Both are key-players in the field of electro-optics and sensor technology, and both part of the F-35 murder supply chain, as they collaborate closely through a shared digital framework, called the Common Data Environment (CDE) to accelerate shared product design and manufacture.

Leonardo UK further profits from Saudi Arabia’s bombing of Yemen, with the Luton site being a key player in production of the Eurofighter Typhoon, the warplane that was used extensively as Saudi Arabia bombed Yemen from 2015-2022. With September 2026 seeing more Saudi bombing of Yemen than any month since 2022, the people of Yemen need our solidarity urgently.

22/10/2026

Yesterday we were once again left wondering at the level of extreme embarrassment and discomfort felt by Leonardo's employees as they were being 'protected' outside their workplace by a rabble of loud, incoherent and ill-informed far-right thugs spouting utter nonsense about things they know absolutely nothing about.

And, once again, the combined presence of larger numbers of police and of said far-right thugs meant that Leonardo's employees were inconvenienced far more and had to witness our protest for far longer than they would normally do during our regular vigils. Not a great result all round for a group that claims to be there to defend Leonardo's workers!

We will continue to mobilise outside the Leonardo UK Millbrook site while the British government and UK weapons factories continue to fan the flames of war and destruction in multiple countries, including the ongoing genocide in Gaza which has resulted in 1,538 deaths and 5,498 injuries since the October 2025 'ceasefire'.

Leonardo UK’s Edinburgh site produces laser-targeting components for the F-35 genocide jet, whereas the Southampton factory specialises in infrared detectors and thermal imaging sensors for missile guidance and target identification. Both sites are therefore key-players in the field of electro-optics and sensor technology, and both are part of the F-35 murder supply chain through their close collaboration based on the Common Data Environment (CDE), a shared digital platform that accelerates shared product design and manufacture.

In addition to their complicity in Gaza, Leonardo UK are also heavily involved in the genocide in Yemen by supplying - through their Luton and Edinburgh sites - over 60% of the on-board avionics for the Eurofighter Typhoon that the UK government has been selling to Saudi Arabia since the start of the civil war in 2015.

A joint report published by CAAT (Campaign Against the Arms Trade) and the Transition Security Project argues that the UK should pay reparation costs to the people of Yemen for its role in war crimes perpetrated against them by Saudi Arabia with weapons directly supplied by the UK government. More details here: https://tinyurl.com/d7a9tdc5

So huge thanks to everyone who continues to attend our vigils to keep highlighting the direct involvement in war crimes of UK weapons factories, including the one in our won city. Yesterday's vigil was part of a coordinated national day of action against weapons factories, which included protests in Shenstone, Bristol and Brighton. The latter succeeded in shutting down L3Harris which makes the bomb release mechanisms for the F-35 genocide jets.

Please watch this space for details of next week's vigil 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

16/10/2026

Leonardo UK Southampton - transition to peaceful production now! Leafletting campaign continues outside the civic centre! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

Yesterday we gathered outside of the civic centre for our regular, weekly vigil - we also leafletted passing-by cars with information about the weapons factory in our city, deeply embroiled in the zionist war crimes destroying entire bloodlines of Palestinians.

Hundreds of thousands took to the streets of London last week in solidarity with Palestine, yet our government continues to try to manipulate the public to think that meaningful action is being taken to address the steady flow of weapons, from factories across Britain, into the hands of an occupying force responsible for a live-streamed genocide.

Continuing to mobilise around these points of production remains pressing, and we hope you will join us for our regular factory vigil outside of the Leonardo UK Southampton factory next week.

Leonardo UK’s Edinburgh site produces laser-targeting components for the F-35 genocide jet. Leonardo’s Southampton factory specialises in infrared detectors and thermal imaging sensors for missile guidance and target identification.

Both are therefore key-players in the field of electro-optics and sensor technology, and both are part of the F-35 murder supply chain, as they collaborate closely through a shared digital framework, called the Common Data Environment (CDE) to accelerate shared product design and manufacture.

Since 2001, the UK has spent more than £51 billion on participating in wars on Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, as well as connected military operations across west Asia and North Africa, according to new research from the Transition Security Project. Starmer’s government committed £298 billion towards so-called “defence spending”, and so far Burnham has towed the line of his predecessor’s imperialist foot steps, recently committing to “defensive” military for Saudi Arabia as it bombs Yemen.

Despite all this, people have the power to say no to this grotesque spending on weapons and death abroad. It is up to people across the country to continue to mobilise and resist our government’s war machine.

10/10/2026

✊ Back at the civic centre for our regular weekly vigil against weapons produced in Britain being used to further genocides and imperialist violence around the world ✊

All aligned with this aim are very welcome join us to help build the campaign, and coming to our regular weekly vigils is a great way to get more involved!

08/10/2026

Three years later, the UK government's involvement is still very much enabling the continuing genocide of the Palestininan people, despite their best efforts to cover up their complicity.

Huge thanks to everyone who continues to turn up at our vigils to keep this important issue in the public eye - yesterday's show of support from passing drivers and pedestrians was amazing and unprecedented.

There will be a Palestine support march in London this Saturday (10th October) to mark three years of genocide, please attend if you can:

https://www.stopwar.org.uk/events/national-march-for-palestine-5/

Please watch this space for details of next week's vigil 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

06/10/2026

Three years of live streamed zionist genocide. Settler colonial genocide since 1948.

Please join us this Wednesday 7 October, 5pm on the green outside the civic centre! If you are looking to get involved in campaigning against our local weapons factory - Leonardo UK - we hope you will join our regular vigils ✊📣🇵🇸

01/10/2026

Yesterday, as eight people - including a journalist - were killed by continuing Israeli air strikes against Gaza, and Trump issued the genocidal threat of wanting to blow up Iran, we returned to the Civic Centre for our weekly presence bearing witness to the multiple imperialist wars being waged by these two out-of-control murderous states.

Huge thanks to everyone who was there yesterday, this month marks the third consecutive year of non-stop slaughter, destruction and displacement of the Palestinian people and our vigils are an important reminder that the butchery has never stopped, despite the so-called ceasefire that came into force a year ago and has so far resulted in at least 1431 Palestinian deaths.

Despite Milliband's recent promise of action, UK involvement in this ongoing slaughter has not been addressed in any meaningful way. True action would involve comprehensive and effective economic sanctions and a wholesale ban on the sale of weapons to Israel, including from companies such as Leonardo UK , with a factory in our city.

To mark the third anniversary of the Israeli assault on Gaza, next week's London demo on 10th October is expected to be a large one. Please be there if you can.

More locally, please watch this space for details of the next Southampton vigil 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

26/09/2026

Next vigil outside of the civic centre - Wednesday 30 Sept 📣✊📣✊

Until Leonardo UK and all British weapon and tech companies stop facilitating the zionist genocide of Gaza and US-Israeli imperialism across the region.

Please share widely to help spread the word!