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United Kingdom |
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British
Nuclear Programs (construction)
|
| British Nuclear Facilities (construction) |
|
Possible Delivery Vehicle |
Year Deployed |
Range (km) |
Launcher Total |
Warhead |
Warhead Yield (kt) |
Notes |
|
SLBMs
|
||||||
|
D-5
Trident II
|
1994
|
7,400
|
64
|
1-3 W76
|
100
|
On four Vanguard-class
SSBNs
|
|
Summary of British Nuclear Arsenal |
| Britain likely has 185 operational nuclear warheads, all based on Trident submarines with another 15 inoperative warheads in storage. Britain had dismantled all its air-delivered nuclear weapons by 1998, retaining only a sea-based deterrent. The British sole nuclear force is based on four new Vanguard class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) each armed with 16 U.S.-supplied Trident II D-5 missiles and 48 nuclear warheads. The British share a pool of submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with the United States. At any given time, only one British submarine in on patrol, with its missiles de-targeted. |
| Strategic Nuclear Weapons: |
180 |
| Non-strategic Nuclear Weapons: |
~5 |
| Total Nuclear Weapons: |
~185 |
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