Britain is to expand production of explosives as the government seeks to strengthen its defence resilience and reduce the country’s reliance on imports, including from the US.

BAE Systems, Britain’s biggest defence group, has over the past five years invested ￡8.5mn in novel manufacturing methods to be able to produce its own supply of cutting-edge explosives and propellants. The company previously imported RDX explosives, which are used in 155mm rounds for British army guns and other weapons, from the US and France.

The new manufacturing methods will remove the need for nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine, key raw materials for the production of energetics and propellants used in ammunition and which have been in high demand since the war in Ukraine.