'Destabilising' Trident warhead already being tested in US

[bananas]

From Julian Borger's global security blog:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2011/apr/02/nuclear-weapons-trident

'Destabilising' Trident warhead already being tested in US
Another sign that the wheels are turning on Trident replacement long before the 2016 'main gate' decision

One of the US nuclear weapons labs, Sandia, has revealed in its "Lab Accomplishments" brochure that it has conducted tests on an upgraded nuclear warhead intended for the Trident replacement in the UK. Reviewing Sandia's recent work on page 3, "Nuclear weapons engineering", the magazine says:

...the W76-1 United Kingdom trials test was performed at WETL , providing qualification data to the UK implementation of the W76-1.

This was spotted by Hans Kristensen at the Federation of American Scientists, who broke the news in 2008 that the US had removed its last tactical nuclear weapons, B61 gravity bombs, from British soil.

Kristensen notes that it had long been rumoured that Britain's Trident warhead was pretty much identical to the US W76. This Sandia document for the first time explicitly gives the US warhead designation for the British weapon. Kristensen writes:

The transfer of W76-1/Mk4A warheads to the United Kingdom further erodes British claims about having an "independent" deterrent. The missiles on the SSBNs are leased from the U.S. Navy, the missile compartment on the next-generation SSBN will be supplied by the United States, and new reactor cores that last the life of future submarines hint of substantial U.S. nuclear assistance.

The W76-1 is an upgrade of the W76 designed to extend its life by 30 years. This does not necessarily make it a new weapon, and therefore a violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but the new capability the upgrade gives to the W76 could contribute to tensions between nuclear powers at a time when the US and UK have pledged themselves to lessening the significance of nuclear weapons in their strategic doctrine. Stephen Young of the Union of Concerned Scientists, send this email about the W76-1:

It is not a new weapon, but it gives an existing weapon a distinctive new capability - hard target kill capability - that will influence Russian and Chinese thinking on US intentions, increasing concern about a possible first strike. It is a destabilizing move.

It also raises the question of how many decisions on Trident's replacement have already been taken, long ahead of the "main gate" threshold which the coalition agreed to put back until 2016, after the next election.

[hack89]

1. Here is a detailed description of the warhead

http://www.fas.org/blog/ssp/2007/08/us_tripples_submarine_warhead.php

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Funny they never produce any "peaceheads", just that other flavor. n/t

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. Those are often refereed to as "Dummy Loads"

Go figure...

[WheelWalker]

4. Not to be confused with

the dumdum.

[TheMadMonk]

5. That did NOT work with your sig pic at all well. /nt