New energetics factories for the UK

The defence industry is being invited to submit proposals to meet the Government’s requirements for bolstering munitions and energetics production in the UK.

The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) sets out the Government’s determination to achieve warfighting readiness through a whole-of-society approach, ensuring Defence is an engine for growth through a new partnership with industry, radical procurement reforms, and backing businesses to establish and grow in the UK.

A key pledge of the SDR is to establish a sovereign, ‘always on’ pipeline for munitions supply, including building at least six new energetics and munitions factories in the UK.

Energetic materials and what they’re used for

Energetic materials are substances that rapidly release large amounts of energy. In Defence, they are typically designed to undergo controlled, predictable reactions such as rapid combustion or detonation to produce gases, heat, pressure or light.

They include explosives, propellants and pyrotechnics and are essential components of conventional weapons including small arms, artillery, mortars, countermeasures, bombs, missiles of all sizes and the UK’s nuclear deterrent.

They are at the heart of combined arms operations at scale and are essential to  delivering effects for UK Defence.

MOD is requesting proposals from industry for the manufacture of the following energetic materials:

Other high explosives, propellants, ignitors, detonators or pyrotechnics may be considered in exceptional circumstances.