- Ministry of Defence confirmed that an ‘anomaly occurred’ during the exercise
Grant Shapps today insisted the Government retains ‘absolute confidence’ in the Trident nuclear deterrent after a test saw a missile misfire and go ‘plop’ in the Atlantic.
The Defence Secretary was aboard HMS Vanguard when the ’embarrassing’ mishap occurred last month in the Atlantic off Florida.
The US-made Trident 2 – fitted with a dummy warhead – successfully ‘left the submarine’ before a problem saw the the 58-ton missile sink into the depths next to the ballistic missile sub, The Sun reported.
The incident marks the second failed launch in a row after a Trident missile launched from sister sub HMS Vengeance misfired during a test in 2016.
In a written statement to MPs today Mr Shapps confirmed ‘an anomaly’ during the exercise, but added: ‘It was event specific and there are no implications for the reliability of the wider Trident missile systems and stockpiles.
‘Nor are there any implications for our ability to fire our nuclear weapons, should the circumstances arise in which we need to do so.
‘The Trident missile system remains the most reliable weapons system in the world, having successfully completed more than 190 tests.
‘The government has absolute confidence that the UK’s deterrent remains effective, dependable, and formidable.’
It is the latest embarrassment for the UK’s Armed Forces, which have been plagued by equipment failures and manpower problems for years.
Earlier this month the Royal Navy flagship, the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth pulled out of a Nato exercise due to a faulty propeller shaft. It followed similar problems with her sister ship HMS Prince of Wales two years ago, and previous engine problems which saw many of the Type 45 Daring Class destroyers stuck in harbour.
There are also ongoing concerns over manpower shortages affecting the Royal Navy and the British Army.
Shadow defence secretary John Healey said: ‘Reports of a Trident test failure are concerning. The Defence Secretary will want to reassure Parliament that this test has no impact on the effectiveness of the UK’s deterrent operations.’
But Lord West, the former Labour minister and ex-First Sea Lord, told MailOnline that while the test failure was ‘bloody embarrassing’ the problem that caused it would not affect a real launch.
‘We don’t need to go overboard, the system still works perfectly. It is bloody embarrassing, let’s face it,’ he said.
‘Every single bit on the submarine worked perfectly, thank goodness. We have just had a seven-year refit which was ridiculously long. That is good news because it shows that these old submarines, when refitted can still do the business.
‘The problem has not affected the operation capability of Trident at all, it is related totally to the test firing.’
Officials said they could not say any more because the incident relates to national security. But they said there remained ‘absolute confidence’ in Britain’s constant at-sea nuclear deterrent and that it continues to be ‘secure and effective’.
HMS Vanguard carried out the doomsday drill off the coast of Florida on January 30.
First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Ben Key was also present at the time to mark what was the final exercise for Vanguard and its crew after undergoing a refit that took more than seven years, an MoD spokesman said.
The Trident missile was expected to travel some 3,500 miles before splashing harmlessly into the Atlantic between West Africa and Brazil. But instead it landed next to the submarine.
The Sun reported that a dummy Trident 2 missile was propelled into the air by compressed gas in its launch tube, but that its so-called first stage boosters did not ignite.
HMS Vanguard was under the surface and hovering at launch depth during the test, but was not hit as the 44ft missile plunged into the water.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed to MailOnline that an ‘anomaly occurred’ during the exercise, but insists the nuclear deterrent remains ‘effective’.
A probe has been ordered to determine the cause of the failure and a search will be carried out to recover the Trident 2 from the ocean.
Details of the misfire are not being made public due to ‘national security’ matters. However, officials are ‘confident’ the incident was ‘event specific’ and that ‘there are no implications for the reliability of the wider Trident missile systems and stockpile’.
A written ministerial statement on Britain’s nuclear deterrent is expected to be laid in the House of Commons by Mr Shapps, according to Wednesday’s order paper.
The missiles are designed to blast to the edge of space and track their position against the stars, before re-entering the atmosphere (hence exoatmospheric), plummeting to earth and raining warheads down on its target.
The maximum range of the missile is 12,000km (7,400 miles), which is roughly the distance from London to Indonesia one way, or Hawaii the other.
The test was understood to be the final hurdle that the £4billion submarine must clear in order to re-enter service as part of the UK’s nuclear deterrent force.
Shadow defence secretary John Healey has now called for assurances, saying: ‘Reports of a Trident test failure are concerning.
‘The Defence Secretary will want to reassure Parliament that this test has no impact on the effectiveness of the UK’s deterrent operations.’
An MoD spokesperson said: ‘HMS Vanguard and her crew have been proven fully capable of operating the UK’s Continuous At-Sea Deterrent, passing all tests during a recent demonstration and shakedown operation (DASO) – a routine test to confirm that the submarine can return to service following deep maintenance work.
‘The test has reaffirmed the effectiveness of the UK’s nuclear deterrent, in which we have absolute confidence.
‘During the test an anomaly occurred. As a matter of national security, we cannot provide further information on this, however we are confident that the anomaly was event specific, and therefore there are no implications for the reliability of the wider Trident missile systems and stockpile. The UK’s nuclear deterrent remains safe, secure and effective.’
HMS Vanguard is one of four of the so-called Vanguard-class nuclear submarines that first went on patrol in 1994, with one of the vessels continually at sea.
They carry the American-built Trident 2 D5 nuclear missiles, the mainstay of Britain’s strategic nuclear deterrent.
A Trident missile can be fired at targets up to 4,000 miles away and at its fastest can travel at more than 13,000 miles an hour, according to the Royal Navy.
They are 13 metres long, weigh 130,000lb (58,500kg) and are ejected from the submarine by high-pressured gas before they fire as they reach the surface of the water.
Each Vanguard-class submarine can hold up to 16 intercontinental ballistic missiles, but will only carry up to eight Trident rockets and up to 40 nuclear warheads.
The V-class is due to be replaced by the bigger Dreadnought-class submarines in the 2030s.
Between £31billion and £41billion has been set aside for the wider programme of replacing the Vanguard-class submarines, according to figures from the House of Commons Library.
HMS Vanguard left Plymouth last year after its £500million overhaul, three years past the initial scheduled end-date.
It was after a similar refurbishment that HMS Vengeance had a Trident missile misfire, which veered dangerously off course and self-destructed.
Britain’s then-Prime Minister was accused of covering up the incident ahead of a vote to decide whether or not to renew Britain’s nuclear deterrent.
The failed test is latest embarrassment for the Royal Navay, which earlier this month was branded a Royal Navy was branded a laughing stock after its flagship aircraft carrier was pulled out of a NATO exercise due to a faulty propeller shaft.
HMS Queen Elizabeth was due to set sail from Portsmouth to help lead the western military alliance’s biggest exercise since the Cold War.
But the £3.5billion, 65,000-ton ship was pulled out at the 11th hour after rust was discovered on the affected part – leaving it at risk of it breaking down at sea.
MPs, at the time, described the development as ‘excruciatingly embarrassing’.
The Queen Elizabeth’s sister carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, broke down near the Isle of Wight after setting sail for America just 18 months ago – also due to a faulty propeller shaft.
The naval mishaps come at a time of high global tension, with rising fears that Britain and her allies could be pulled into a conflict in the coming years.
The governments of Estonia, Sweden and now the UK have already warned their respective nations that the prospect of large-scale war is on the horizon.
Leaked German intelligence documents suggest Berlin expects Russia to launch another wave of attacks to overwhelm Ukraine, and is scrambling to come up with contingency plans in the event Russian troops march westward from Belarus.
The Israel-Hamas conflict threatens to spread violence across the Middle East, with Iran‘s so-called ‘Axis of Resistance’ – including Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels – increasing their attacks on Israel and commercial shipping routes, prompting the UK and US to launch a series of devastating strikes by air and sea.
Further East, Taiwan‘s election of a new democracy-loving president has angered Beijing even further, with a Chinese invasion of the island nation in the coming years looking ever more likely.
And all the while, Kim Jong Un stands by with his fist clenching the keys to North Korea‘s nuclear arsenal, ready to plunge his foes into radioactive winter.
Trident is the UK nuclear deterrent, consisting of US-made missiles that have carried British-made warheads aboard four Royal Navy Vanguard Class submarines since 1994.
One of the vessels is continually at sea under a four-boat rotation that has been in place since 1969.
HMS Vanguard, HMS Vengeance, HMS Victorious, and HMS Vigilant can each carry up to 16 American-built Trident II D5 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM), each capable of delivering 12 independently targeted nuclear warheads.
This means each vessel is technically capable of carrying 192 warheads, individually possessing the destructive power of eight Hiroshimas, but successive UK governments have limited the submarines to deploying with eight operational missiles and no more than 40 nuclear warheads.
The Vanguard Class submarine, measuring 150m in length and displacing almost 116,000 tonnes, travels at more than 25 knots at depths in excess of 250m, according to the Royal Navy.
Powered by a Rolls-Royce PWR 2 nuclear reactor that converts water into steam to drive the engines and generate electricity, the submarine’s range is only limited by the amount of food stockpiled for its 132 crew members.
A Trident missile can be fired at targets up to 4,000 miles away and can travel at more than 13,000 miles an hour, according to the Royal Navy.
The UK has tested Trident missiles 12 times since the weapons entered service in 1994, with each missile costing £17 million.
The missiles are 13m long, weigh 130,000lb (58,500kg) and are ejected from the submarine by high-pressure gas before igniting as they reach the surface of the water.
The decision to replace the original Polaris nuclear missile system with Trident was taken by Margaret Thatcher in 1980, and debate over the next update to Britain’s continuous at sea deterrence (CASD) has been fraught.
Parliament approved the replacement of the Vanguard submarines in 2007 but only approved their construction in 2016, with the first Dreadnought Class submarine expected to enter service in the early 2030s.
Total acquisition expenditure on the Trident programme in the 1980s was £12.52 billion, which equates to approximately £21 billion in 2022/23 prices, according to figures from the House of Commons Library.
Annual in-service costs of the UK’s nuclear deterrence are currently estimated at around 6 per cent of the defence budget, which is forecast to be £3 billion for 2023-24.
Between £31 billion and £41 billion has been earmarked for the Dreadnought Class boats.
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David Wilcock
