Twenty-two companies, including British small and medium-sized enterprises, are to receive contracts worth up to £300,000 each to carry out feasibility studies on possible sites for new UK factories producing the energetic materials used in munitions, the Ministry of Defence has announced.
The contracts will benefit businesses in England, Scotland and Wales. Energetic materials are the explosives, propellants and pyrotechnics that form essential components of weapons ranging from small arms, artillery and mortars to countermeasures, bombs and missiles.
The studies will focus on which sites could be used to build at least six new munitions factories, part of what the government describes as its work to rebuild the nation’s homegrown ammunition and energetics manufacturing capability. The Ministry of Defence framed the effort as re-establishing a sovereign, “always on” pipeline for munitions supply, citing the war in Ukraine as evidence of the importance of fast resupply of munitions by industry.
Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard MP said:
“This Government is building the munitions and energetics factories of the future, restoring Britain’s sovereign manufacturing capabilities after decades of decline and helping us to re-industrialise. By investing across England, Scotland and Wales, we are strengthening our warfighting readiness and security of supply, while creating at least 1,000 high-skilled jobs in the future in communities that have long been the backbone of British industry and will be again.”
Each selected company will receive up to £300,000 to develop detailed proposals for manufacturing energetic materials and for the sites at which production could be based. The companies are expected to return their findings by the end of September 2026, with construction of the new factories planned to begin by the end of the year.
On completion of the feasibility studies, the strongest proposals will be offered Front End Engineering Design (FEED) contracts worth up to £5 million each to develop engineering designs for at least six new munitions and energetics factories.
In November 2025 the government announced that at least 13 potential sites had been identified across the UK for the manufacture of munitions and explosives, including locations in Monmouthshire, Cumbria, Dumfries and Galloway, North Ayrshire, Shropshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Essex, Worcestershire, Hampshire, Pembrokeshire and Falkirk.
The studies follow £11.1 billion allocated through the Defence Investment Plan for munitions and weapons, which the Ministry of Defence says will increase UK stockpiles and ensure the Armed Forces have what it calls the right “high-low” mix of capabilities to defeat the full range of targets.
Commodore Caroline Dix MBE, Deputy Director Lethality and Protect in the National Armaments Director Group (Materiel), said:
“National Armaments (Materiel) is pleased to announce the award of feasibility study contracts to a diverse cohort of companies, from innovative SMEs to major defence primes and major chemical industry partners. This is a significant step towards rebuilding the UK’s sovereign energetics industry.
“The studies will identify how we can grow UK production of the explosives, propellants and pyrotechnics that underpin military capability, driving investment, innovation and skilled jobs across the country.
“Above all, it will help ensure the Armed Forces have a secure and resilient supply of the munitions they need to fight and win.”
Good news on building plants, but as Ukraine is doing to Russia, they are vulnerable to drone and sabotage. Pro pal communists seem to be able to walk through security.
They will be a target for hybrid warfare. More air defence and internal security is needed
…and judging by the RAF experience in recent times modern fencing might be a useful start.
Feasibility Studies to look like something’s happening and then nothing will be done…
This beggars belief. The need to build 6 new munitions factories was stated in SDR, well over a year ago. I thought the project would be well advanced by now, at least that sites had been identified and purchased.
We now hear after all this time that 22 companies are between them going to spend up to £6.6m of taxpayers money to work out where to build them!
Why 22 companies and not just one? Why not do this activity in-house with MoD personnel? What about the delay now occasioned? When will they be built and up and running? It seems to be 5 or 6 years away for that at best. The big war is meant to be happening by 2030!
Going by the track record of the government’s over the years, it’s no real surprise really.
Someone here told me they’d probably use existing factory sites and just expand.
If that were true, could officials from DIO not just liaise with BAES and find plots of land adjacent to existing sites?
This seems like a feasibility study that’ll be bogged down in red tape and other governments will be doing the building and the paying, rather than Pollard’s “this government.”
Still, around the same time we also had the 7,000 missiles story and I’m sure some still believe that as well.
BAE Systems have already had support to scale up their existing explosives site, and open a new shell factory in Sheffield. But having all our eggs in one basket isn’t great for resilience if things turn hot (or some tourists visiting a cathedral happen to be nearby when a fire mysterious starts)
Graham, the MOD reacts with all the speed of a “striking sloth”. Many, many committees will have met just to get to this point!
‘Just one’ was the modus operandi during the post-cold-war years and always lead to one of a very small clique of the usual suspects getting a big fat check and, more often than not, some combination going over budget, behind schedule, and/or under delivering. (Or buying overseas and getting slagged off for not investing locally).
This fits in with how they’ve run things like Brakestop, where they’ve tried to cast the net wider and get some nimbleness in to the projects. It’s not like our main source, BAES, haven’t already received investment to scale up their explosives plant in Gladcoed, or open their new shell factory in Sheffield. Enabling a few different suppliers to enter the market will both make the supply chain more resilient while introducing some price competition.
In related news, Poland’s big supplier of TNT has signed a letter of intent with BAES to open a factory in the UK. I wonder how the roll out of their continuous flow explosives manufacturing is going?