HMS Vanguard,one of the UK’s four nuclear submarines,is expected to launch a single unarmed missile from 90 kilometres off the US east coast in the coming days.
Britain’s nuclear arsenal is carried by its four Vanguard class Trident submarines.AP
The tests are the final hurdle for the boat to re-enter service as part of the UK’s strategic nuclear deterrent fleet after it underwent a £500 million ($968 million) overhaul that took three years longer than planned.
The Sun newspaper first reported on Thursday evening (Friday AEDT) that the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency issued a warning to shipping that a test would be carried out as HMS Vanguard,a 16,000-tonne submarine that carries Trident missiles,arrived in the Atlantic.
The US warning remains in force from 9pm on January 30,to 4am on February 4. The navy has not commented on the operation.
The test,which will involve a dummy warhead,will be carried out around 90 kilometres off Florida’s east coast. The newspaper reported that the missile is due to travel some 6000 kilometres before ditching into the sea between Brazil and West Africa.
The last UK missile test was in 2016,when a Trident II D5 missile veered off course after being fired off the coast of Florida. Instead of reaching its target in the southern Atlantic,it headed in the opposite direction over the US,and automatically self-destructed.
Defence sources toldThe Guardian at the time that the missile itself was not faulty,but that it had been fed bad directional data.
Citing a Royal Navy source,The Sun said Britain’s nuclear submarines can carry more explosive power than was dropped in the entirety of World War II.
Britain’s last nuclear test took place underground in Nevada in the US in late 1991.
Five years later,the UK,Australia and more than 180 countries signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty banning all nuclear explosions,but a handful – including China,Russia and the US – have not finalised it in law.
The UK conducted a number of nuclear tests in Australia in the 1950s.Peter Solness
Both British and American nuclear submarines will be deployed to Australian naval bases in the coming years as part of the AUKUS agreement – a tripartite security initiative that seeks to reinforce its members’ interests and positions in the Indo-Pacific.
Under the arrangement,Australia will acquire its own fleet of British-designed nuclear-powered attack submarines,replacing its current fleet of Collins class diesel-electric boats.
The US had agreed to sell up to five of its Virginia class submarines to avoid capability gaps until the first AUKUS submarines are delivered to the Royal Australian Navy.
British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps met his US defence and national security counterparts earlier this week to discuss events in the Middle East and how to tackle shared threats.
Since November,more than 30 attacks have been made on cargo ships in the Red Sea by Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen,and a multinational naval taskforce – Operation Prosperity Guardian – has been deployed to the area.
“It is completely unacceptable that Houthi activity in the Red Sea is threatening freedom of navigation,damaging the global economy and risking lives,” Shapps said on Thursday.
“As two nations who champion freedom of movement,we will not cower in the face of these attacks,and we would not hesitate to take further action if required.”
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