British Policy
Trident Replacement:
Assessing UK Security Needs and Nuclear Policy
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The Future of the Strategic Nuclear Deterrent: the Strategic Context,
Defence Committee Inquiries
Annex B
The Expected Life of the Trident System
1. The UK's current nuclear deterrent capability comprises
several elements: first, the nuclear warheads, which were designed and
manufactured in the UK by the Atomic Weapons Establishment; second, the
Trident D5 missiles, which were procured from the United States under
the Polaris Sales Agreement (as amended for Trident); third, four Vanguard-class
nuclear powered submarines, built at Barrow-in-Furness by what was then
Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Limited, who also designed the bulk
of the submarine; and finally a range of logistic infrastructure - at
the naval facilities at Coulport (weapons handling and storage), Faslane
(submarine basing) and Devonport (submarine refit and maintenance).
2. While each element of the capability has a design life,
its longevity in practice is not fixed, as items can be withdrawn from
service before the end of their design life or, alternatively, the design
life may be extended by updates, refurbishments or by being able to run
on a system for longer, based on experience gained during its operational
life. The current situation is as follows:
a) The Warhead:
The current warhead came into service with the Trident system in 1994.
An extensive research programme to assure the safety and effectiveness
of the warhead stockpile, coupled with the additional investment at AWE
Aldermaston announced on 19 July 2005, gives a high level of confidence
that the current warhead design can, if required, be maintained in service
at least into the 2020s, with some relatively minor upgrading and refurbishment
during the first half of the next decade.
b) The Ballistic Missiles:
The Trident D5 missile came into service with the Royal Navy in 1994,
with a planned life of some 25 years. The US Navy has recently announced
plans for a life extension programme for the D5 missile, which will ensure
it can remain in-service with the US Navy into the 2040s. The UK Government
has yet to decide whether or not to participate in this programme.
c) The Submarines:
HMS VANGUARD entered operational service with the Royal Navy in 1994,
with the other three submarines in its class following in 1995, 1998 and
2001. The submarines were procured with a designed operational life of
25 years and on this basis, they would start to be withdrawn from service
late in the next decade. A series of studies have considered whether it
would be practicable and cost effective to continue to operate the submarines
beyond the original design intent. We now believe that, if required, this
would be possible, albeit with gradually increasing cost and some increasing
risk of reduced availability, perhaps out to the mid-2020s.
d) Shore Infrastructure:
Under the Trident programme, successive Governments have made significant
investment in the facilities at Coulport, Faslane and Devonport. We envisage
that the facilities at these locations needed to support the nuclear deterrent
will not require any significant additional investment to sustain them
throughout the currently planned in-service life of the existing system.
Clearly, the extent of any additional investment in logistics or infrastructure
beyond that point will depend on future decisions on whether and how to
maintain a nuclear deterrent beyond the planned life of the current system.
Source: Defence Committee website, http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/defence_committee.cfm
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© 2005 The Acronym Institute.
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