Ever since World War II, military science has dominated the nation's scientific endeavour, and today the commitment to sustain an independent British weapons industry remains our overriding scientific priority.

But how good is our military science and technology, and what is its impact on the nation's overall scientific performance? "Horizon" looks inside this closed world, talks to the people who design and build the weapons, meets our top weapons scientist and visits Britain's key electronic warfare laboratory - RSRE Malvern. The Royal Signals and Radar Establishment was the birthplace of radar and today is carrying out research into new electronic warfare systems for the 1990s and beyond. It is also the centre of an experiment, 'the Malvern link', which could have a decisive effect on the future shape of the nation's science and technology.