In September 2010, the UK government announced that it had “not more than 225” Trident nuclear warheads and that this would be reduced to “not more than 180” by the mid 2020s.[i]The UK’s only delivery system is the Trident D5 missile. Development and construction of the warheads takes place at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in Aldermaston, England.[ii]
Trident II (D5)
Aerojet Rocketdyne – solid and liquid propulsion systems
BAE Systems – common missile compartment
Boeing: component production and technical support services of the navigation system, test equipment and software modernization, and repair of the system, maintenance, repair, and rebuilding and technical services in support of the navigation subsystem
General Dynamics –guidance system lifecycle, engineering, development, and production activities
Honeywell International –producing integrated circuit components, Guidance System micro circuit wafers and Strategic Systems Programs alterations materials
Lockheed Martin –construction
Moog- launch vehicle and strategic missile controls
Northrop Grumman– Underwater Launcher System and Advanced Launcher Development Program
Orbital ATK– rocket propulsion systems
Atomic Weapons Establishment
responsible for warhead maintenance
AWE-ML is a joint venture responsible for the entire life cycle, from initial concept to assessment, design, component manufacture and assembly, in-service support and decommissioning and disposal
Jacobs Engineering
Lockheed Martin– lead company
Serco
[i] Volkery, Carsten, ‘Deterrent Lite’: A Look at Britain’s and France’s Nuclear Arsenals, Der Spiegel, http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/deterrent-lite-a-look-at-britain-s-and-france-s-nuclear-arsenals-a-688504.html, viewed 24 July 2014.
[ii] Ainslie, Assuring Destruction Forever, 2014, http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/images/documents/Publications/modernization/uk-2014.pdf