In the strategic defence review published in June, the MOD committed £1.5 billion of additional defence investment for energetics and munitions, including the always-on munitions pipeline. The Government are committed to building at least six new munitions and energetics factories this Parliament, creating at least 1,000 new jobs and driving defence as an engine for growth in every region and nation, supporting the Government’s decade of national renewal. Today, I can announce that the Ministry of Defence has identified at least 13 potential sites for new munitions and energetics factories, and I expect construction to begin on the first of the factories in the next year. The new factories will make munitions and military explosives to boost the UK’s warfighting readiness as the Government start to build the factories of the future.
I can also announce today that we have invited industry to submit proposals to meet the Government’s requirements for energetics production. The MOD’s requirements for energetics production will be published online today, and will set out the MOD’s plan to deliver a significant set of multi-year investments to support onshore production and generate growth in the UK. The document includes details of nine energetic materials which have been identified as key for the UK.
This follows a number of feasibility studies that MOD has funded for the new energetics factories to kick-start high-volume production at scale for the first time in nearly two decades. The engineering design work on the first of these factories has been commissioned with a view to start production for our own armed forces, and to enable our continued support to Ukraine. Potential sites include Grangemouth in Scotland, Teesside in north-east England, and Milford Haven in Wales. The factories will produce the components essential for bolstering the UK’s weapons arsenal including propellants, explosives, and pyrotechnics.
The new munitions and energetics factories will deliver on the strategic defence review’s commitment to move to warfighting readiness and need to boost the UK’s firepower for the armed forces—and today is an important step forward. The first-of-its-kind strategic defence review was published in June, with the ambition to make Britain secure at home and strong abroad. The Government are delivering at pace on the recommendations in the review to keep the British people safe, with national security the foundation of the Government’s plan for change.
This Government are making defence an engine for growth, with a record increase in defence investment to protect the British people in a new era of threat while delivering a defence dividend—measured in good jobs, growing businesses, and new skills across the UK.
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