Trident - Britain's weapon of mass destruction

Introduction

Trident is Britain's nuclear weapon system. It consists of 4 nuclear-armed submarines, one of which is on operational patrol at all times. Each Trident submarine carries 48 nuclear warheads, each of which can be sent to a different target. Each warhead has an explosive power of up to 100 kilotons, the equivalent of 100,000 tons of conventional high explosive and 8 times the power of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, killing an estimated 140,000 people.

CND believes that Trident is illegal, immoral and a waste of resources. It does nothing to increase world security and undermines international efforts to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
CND believes that to fulfil its international legal obligations, the Government should comply with its unequivocal commitment under the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty by immediately decommisioning Trident and ruling out plans for future nuclear weapon systems.

Background and capabilities

In 1980, the Thatcher government announced that it was going to purchase from the US the Trident nuclear-armed submarine system as a replacement for Britain's ageing Polaris submarines.

Submarines and missiles

The Trident system entered service in 1994. It consists of four nuclear-powered submarines - HMS Vanguard, Victorious, Vigilant and Vengeance. The submarines are based at the Clyde Submarine Base at Faslane, near Glasgow.

Each submarine is equipped with up to 16 US Trident II D5 missiles, designed and produced by the US Lockheed Martin Corporation. Each Trident missile carries up to 48 nuclear warheads, each of which can be sent to a different target.

Trident: Britain's unilateral nuclear arms race

Trident is a major escalation in Britain's nuclear war fighting capability. Trident is technologically much more advanced than Polaris. Its missiles are faster, have a longer range, are more accurate and can hit more targets than Polaris.