The recently published Explosion Mechanics Roadmap provides a comprehensive review of recent advances in explosion and impact mechanics, spanning shock physics, dynamic material behaviour, computational modelling, structural response and protection, advanced protective materials and technologies, artificial intelligence, and engineering applications. Its breadth also highlights a critical challenge for the next stage of the field: translating advances in the understanding of extreme dynamic phenomena into safer and more resilient infrastructure. From a structural engineering perspective, addressing this challenge requires a shift from single-hazard and component-level resistance towards multi-hazard, integrated, intelligent, structure-level resilience. This Invited Perspective highlights five transitions that could help shape this development: from single-hazard resistance to multi-hazard resilience; from material and component level to integrated material–component–structure level; from high-fidelity simulation to trustworthy predictive approach; from pure data-driven Artificial Intelligence (AI) to integrated physics-informed, uncertainty-aware AI for prediction; and from structural resistance and survival to functionality and recovery. Ultimately, the next frontier of structural protection lies in connecting extreme loading hazards, mechanics, materials, structures, functionality and recovery within an integrated intelligent framework for resilient infrastructure.
