Atomic Weapons Establishment

The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) is a United Kingdom Ministry of Defence research facility responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the UK's nuclear weapons. It is the successor to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE) with its main site on the former RAF Aldermaston and has major facilities at Burghfield, Blacknest and RNAD Coulport.

AWE plc, responsible for the day-to-day operations of AWE, is owned by the Ministry of Defence and operated as a non-departmental public body.

Until June 2021, AWE plc was owned by a consortium of Jacobs Engineering Group, Lockheed Martin UK, and Serco through AWE Management Ltd, which held a 25‑year contract (until March 2025) to operate AWE, although all the sites remained owned by the Government of the United Kingdom which had a golden share in AWE plc. In November 2020, it was announced that the Ministry of Defence had triggered a contractual break point and would take ownership of AWE Plc in July 2021.

The establishment is the final destination for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament's Aldermaston Marches march from Trafalgar Square, London. The first Aldermaston March was conceived by the Direct Action Committee and took place in 1958.

The British nuclear weapons programme, then operating under the project name 'High Explosive Research' within the Ministry of Supply, established operations on 1 April 1950 at the former RAF Aldermaston airfield. The airfield was constructed in World War II and had been used by the Royal Air Force and the United States's Eighth and Ninth Air Force as a troop carrier (C‑47) group base, and was assigned USAAF station No 467. In 1952, the High Explosive Research project was renamed the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE), with William Penney appointed as the first director.

In 1954 AWRE was transferred to the newly created United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA). In 1971, under the provisions of the Atomic Energy Authority Act 1971, the production activities of UKAEA were transferred to the newly created British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. (BNFL).

In 1973 AWRE was transferred to the Procurement Executive of the Ministry of Defence, see Atomic Energy Authority (Weapons Group) Act 1973. Parts of AWRE's weapons production processes were carried out at two Royal Ordnance Factories (ROFs): ROF Burghfield and ROF Cardiff. In 1984 these two ROFs were separated from the other ROFs, which were then formed into a government-owned defence company, Royal Ordnance plc and was privatised in 1987. ROF Burghfield and ROF Cardiff remained within the Procurement Executive and came under the control of AWRE.

In 1987, AWRE was combined with ROF Burghfield and ROF Cardiff to form the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), these sites being renamed AWE Burghfield and AWE Cardiff (the latter was closed in 1997).