RDX

Powerful explosive, discovered by Georg Friedrich Henning of Germany and patented in 1898 but not used until World War II, when most of the warring powers introduced it. Relatively safe and inexpensive to manufacture, RDX was produced on a large scale in the United States by a secret process developed in the United States and Canada. The name RDX was coined by the British. This name was accepted in the United States, although the name cyclonite was also commonly used there. RDX and HMX are the two most common explosives in US-made weapons.