UK identifies potential sites for new explosives plants

The government has entered the next phase of its plan to restore domestic munitions and energetics production, naming 13 locations across the UK as potential sites for new factories intended to boost long term warfighting readiness.

In a speech in Westminster, Defence Secretary John Healey will say the MOD has commissioned engineering design work for the first facility and funded feasibility studies across the wider programme. He will commit to “building the factories of the future in Britain” and says construction on the first energetics plant is expected to begin “in the next year.”

The announcement forms part of the Strategic Defence Review’s £1.5 billion uplift for energetics and munitions. The MOD says the new factories will restore high volume production for the first time in nearly two decades, covering key components such as propellants, explosives and pyrotechnics. Healey will argue that this effort reflects a “new era of threat” and a shift toward sustained industrial readiness.

UK still weighing sites for new ‘always on’ munitions plants

The department has now identified potential sites in Monmouthshire, Cumbria, Dumfriesshire, Ayrshire, Shropshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Essex, Worcestershire, Hampshire, Pembrokeshire and Stirlingshire, with earlier options also listed in Grangemouth, Teesside and Milford Haven. A Planned Procurement Note published today sets out the MOD’s requirements and invites industry proposals linked to nine priority energetic materials.

Healey will say the programme is intended to create “at least 1,000 new jobs” and return energetics manufacturing to the UK after years of overseas dependence. The government also highlights two new drone production facilities opening this week, Helsing’s site in Plymouth and a STARK line in Swindon, as examples of wider defence industrial growth.

Although the MOD has identified 13 potential locations, the department has not clarified how far each site has progressed through technical vetting. A list of potential sites makes for a strong headline because it suggests momentum and geographic reach, and it gives the impression of a coordinated national plan. The substance is thinner at this stage.

The announcement signals direction rather than delivery, and the details that matter for understanding feasibility remain out of view. That does not make the initiative insignificant, but it does mean the headline weight exceeds the certainty behind it.