La Gran Bretagna per accelerare la produzione di esplosivi per porre fine alle armi statunitensi

The main bit of the story:

> Using a world-first innovative technique — amounting to the biggest shake up in explosive manufacturing in five decades — BAE now wants to produce its own sovereign explosives and market the technology across the globe.
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> Previously BAE Systems imported RDX explosives from two main sources, the US and France.
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> The company, the largest defence contractor in Europe, is hoping to reach a position where its munitions are deemed to be “Itar-free”, essentially without any US components or material so they can be used and sold on without being subject to any restrictions from America.
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> […]
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> Under the plans outlined by BAE, each individual shipping container will produce up to 100 tonnes a year of explosives on a much smaller scale but one that is more efficient, cheaper and quicker. It is also more resilient in terms of security, he explained. “One large facility is clearly a big security threat. If you have dispersed facilities, it is much more secure.”

An interesting revelation on UK ammunition production capacity:

> By the summer, BAE will have increased its production of 155mm rounds — the Nato-standard ammunition — 16-fold over two years to meet the demand fuelled by the Ukraine war.
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> The Times is aware of the number of rounds the UK can now produce but has been asked not to disclose it for security reasons.

The UK has never reported numbers, but under the framework between the UK and BAE they were [reported](https://www.forcesnews.com/news/ps24bn-munitions-deal-secure-thousands-uk-jobs-over-15-years) to be intended to produce:

> approximately 70,000,000 small arms ammunition rounds, 100,000 large calibre rounds, 75,000 mortars and 40,000 medium calibre rounds per annum.

“large calibre rounds” in UK service probably meaning [105mm for L118](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L118_light_gun) [120mm for L30](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Ordnance_L30), [4.5inch naval](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4.5-inch_Mark_8_naval_gun) and [155mm for AS-90](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AS-90). Assuming that 155mm makes up a quarter of that 100,000, that implies a capacity of something like 400k annually now, which for a nation that has just 14 155mm guns in service isn’t too shabby.

Europe nowadays “WTF I love arms manufacturers and military industrial complexes”