United Kingdom

Home | Map | Timeline | Treaties | Stockpiles | Reduction | Proposals | Resources | Glossary

Return to: World Map | NATO map

NPT Nuclear Weapons State

1. Arsenal Size:

-Total warheads: ~185
-Operational warheads: ~160
-Weapon system: 4 x Vanguard Class SSBN carrying 16 U.S.-produced Trident II (D-5) SLBMs.

(Several sources indicated in June 2008 that the United States withdrew nuclear weapons from the RAF Lankenheath air base where it is generally believed that 110 U.S. nuclear weapons were deployed.)

2. Estimated Destructive Power:
-Estimated 100 kilotons.

3. Military Fissile Material Stockpile:
-Plutonium: 7.6 mt (4.4 mt declared excess)
-HEU: 21.9 mt

4. Disarmament and Commitments to Reduce Arsenal Size:

• Legal obligation to pursue global disarmament under Article VI of the NPT.
• During the 1970s, size of arsenal peaked at around 350 warheads. Currently estimated to be fewer than 160 operational warheads.
• The last of 100 WE 177 A/B Nuclear Gravity Bombs (NGB) dismantled at AWE Aldermaston in 1998.
• Since dismantling the last Chevaline warhead (used on Polaris SLBMs) in 2002, no further cuts undertaken.

Future Commitment:

• In support of negotiating verifiable FMCT negotiations without preconditions. The treaty should not cover existing stockpiles.
• On February 5, 2008, at the Conference on Disarmament, UK Secretary of State for Defence Des Browne (link to http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/political/cd/speeches08/1session/Feb5UKDefSecDesBrown.pdf) illustrated its concrete plan on how to contribute to dismantling nuclear warheads including a technical cooperation initiative between the UK’s Atomic Weapons Establishment and the Norwegian government to develop technology to verify warhead dismantlement. As a next step, the UK offered to host a technical conference of P5 nuclear laboratories on nuclear disarmament verification before the 2010 NPT Review Conference.

5. Nuclear Weapons Policies:
Decided to renew the nuclear submarines used as launching platforms for the UK's Trident nuclear missile system.

“The UK has a vision of a world free of nuclear weapons, in partnership with everyone who shares that ambition, we intend to make further progress towards this vision in the coming years.” -- UK Secretary of State for Defence Des Browne, February 5, 2008 at the Conference on Disarmament

Former Prime Minister Blair in 2005 said the UK should retain an "independent nuclear deterrent."

Nuclear Testing:

• Observed nuclear testing moratorium since August 1992.
• Signed and ratified CTBT.
• Party to PTBT (banning nuclear tests in atmosphere, in outer space, and under water test).

Use of Nuclear Weapons:

• Retains first-use policy
• Committed not to use nuclear weapons against members of Tlatelolco, Rarotonga, and Pelindaba. Has not signed Bangkok.
• Acknowledged the commitments of the NWS to negative security assurances in UN Security Council Resolution 984 (1995).

Return to: World Map | NATO map

 

This material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2007 by MIIS.

 

Sources:

Robert S. Norris and Hans M. Kristensen, "British Nuclear Forces, 2005," Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, November/December 2005, vol. 61. no. 06. pp. 77-79. http://www.thebulletin.org/article_nn.php?art_ofn=nd05norris.

Hans Kristensen, "U.S. Nuclear Weapons Withdrawn From the United Kingdom," FAS Strategic Security Blog, http://www.fas.org/blog/ssp/2008/06/us-nuclear-weapons-withdrawn-from-the-united-kingdom.php