WHERE ARE the NUKES? DUNCAN CAMPBELL: EXCLUSIVE ANDREW LUMSDEN: Safe Sex Nuclear Weapons - Perhaps Even Less

New

29 November 1985 80p IR £1.28 US$1.50 By Air BRITAIN'S

WHERE ARE THE NUKES? DUNCAN CAMPBELL: EXCLUSIVE ANDREW LUMSDEN: Safe Sex nuclear weapons - perhaps even less. THE POLITICIANS WHO CRIED WOLF In an unpublicised and unilateral act of nuclear disarmament, Britain has also dismantled all the Hvbombs (thermonuclear weapons) which equipped the RAF V-bomber force during the 1960s and 1970s. By the early TOO. FEW' BOMBS . 1980s, according to official sources, the RAF had stocks of only one kind of 'tactical' nuclear weapon, the WE 177. Although some of the TO.GOROUND RAF's former H-bombs may have been fitted for a time to some Polaris missiles, these too will have been removed by now to make way for Behind the official bluff, there are fewer nukes than everyone (and provide the nuclear material for) the smaller, multiple warhead Chevaline system. thinks. Using secret official documents, DUNCAN CAMPBELL Despite widespread suspicions about the reports on how many Bombs there really are. Research by amount of military plutonium the government Patrick Forbes. has manufactured, aired by CND and other groups at the Sizewell Inquiry, it now appears that such suspicions (which the NS has also HELENSBURGH, STRATHCLYDE, 20 THE CONVOY THAT CRASHED in publicised) may have been thought officially June 1985, 1415 hours. For the first time a Helensburgh was part of the routine business of useful in that they diverted attention away from secret military convoy carrying nuclear weapons maintaining Britain's nuclear weapons the (comparatively) small size of Britain's nuclear stockpile, thus helping to conceal the was involved in a public accident (see opposite). stockpile. But the real size of the British nuclear severe physical constraints on British nuclear As the convoy drove through the streets of the stockpile is, in fact, far less than the normal weapons production. The government is Scottish town, two heavily armoured nuclear public estimates of about 500 to 1,000 weapons. known to have systematically encouraged such weapons carriers collided. Smoke poured from It has usually been assumed that the advent of exaggerated publicity about nuclear weapons the rear of one of the damaged load carriers. A Trident missiles to replace the present Polaris stocks throughout the 1950s and 1960s. military fire tender, tailing the convoy, pulled will mean an enormous increase in the size of The constraints on British nuclear weapons alongside, and fire hoses were unwound". the British stockpile. Each of the four planned - in particular, the extremely limited amount The previous night, the twelve vehicles in the Trident submarines will carry sixteen missiles, of weapons grade plutonium available - mean RAF's Special Convoy had been stationed in the the same as Polaris. But each Trident missile that even with British Nuclear Fuel's 'military' Coulport Royal Naval Armament Depot. There can carry fourteen warheads instead of, at nuclear reactors now working at maximum they had been loaded with nuclear warheads present, the Polaris maximum of three. capacity, sufficient warheads for the new from Polaris missiles, ready for the return leg of To equip Trident fully would require, in Trident submarines can only be produced by their monthly trip to Scotland. theory; 704 new warheads. Trident's capacity removing the plutonium from an equivalent The Helensburgh incident did not cause has been taken to imply that, during the 1990s, number of existing nuclear weapons. anything worse than a traffic jam, this time ". Britain will acquire a total of between 1,000 and According to a defence specialist who has An official Ministry of Defence enquiry has been 1,500 nuclear warheads. worked inside the nuclear programme during held into the accident. Its findings are not public, In fact, the present British stockpile is the 1980s, the British stockpile now consists of and are not intended to become so. insufficient to fill even one Trident D5 approximately: submarine's complement of 224 warheads. There are in total only about 200 British 80 RAF tactical 'lay-down' bombs, type SECRET WEI77, believed to have a variable nuclear yield between about 5 kilotons and about 200 kilotons (about 15 times RAF NUCLEAR WEAPON CONVOY COMPOSITION the power ofthe Hiroshima bomb); 25 RN nuclear depth bombs, a low yield ..a:t Front Stand-Off Escort (4 Royal Marines) variation of the RAF tactical bomb, for use against submarines; ~ Mile ~ •. RAF P ,- M u - - ---. 0 Ice otor-cyc rst 40 Polarfs-Chevaline missile warhe-ads, type A3TK, believed now to carry three ~ Front Escort (Escort Commander + 2) seperately targetted nuclear weapons. This makes a stockpile to\al of, at most, about Q;StiliC.7 2-5 load Carriers - The last bein(J a spare i 225 nuclear weapons; or, if Chevaline missiles only contain two warheads, about 185. ., t:J (Each with Driver and RAF Policeman) Even excluding the warheads on US Navy 400 Yards Poseidon submarines, based in the Holy Loch in Scotland, this means that the United States Fire Truck (Convoy Safety Officer + 3) . has more nuclear weapons in Britain than ~- Britain does. Additionally" the US provides ~"'~'1 Rear Escort (Con~oy Commander + 2) nuclear weapons for use by the British Army and RAF in Germany, and nuclear depth ~ I 2 RAF Police Motor-cyclists charges for RAF Nimrod anti-submarine aircraft stationed in Britain. ~ / Mrs Thatcher and senior members of the - ~ Convoy Support Vehicle Coach (3) cabinet therefore know that much of Trident's ~M'I ~ potential nuclear capacity is pointless for lack of ------.le. ~ Rear Stand-Off Escort (4 Royal Marines) warheads. According to a senior defence source: It was quite clear when the decision to order Ops(NucHRAF) Slide 43 SECRET Trident was taken, there would not be enough Feb81 nuclear material to fill up all the operational spaces on the missiles - there never would be.'. Slide from official RAF briefmg on nuclear weapons convoys in Britain (redrawn and reset from poor quality original copy), Film of convoy on the move will be shown by Yorkshire TV The warhead shortage is also exacerbated by next Tuesday, the increasing age of the British tactical bomb, [> THE PHOTOGRAPHS show the are accompanied by' a 'convoy followed by a number. OLDHAM sequence of events after a Polaris support vehicle' which carries arms ONE means that the convoy is halted initial control of entry to and exit submarine arrives at the Royal Naval and ammunition, rations, after an accident, but radioactive from the Hazardous Zone, including Armament Depot, at Coulport, west communications sets, radiation material has not been spilled. protection and monitoring of of Glasgow. The Polaris missiles are measuring and decontamination OLDHAM TWO is worse; safety personnel', and 'prepare the Medical unloaded (above left); a Polaris ,.!!quipment, and spare motorcycles for may be at risk. OLDHAM THREE is Centre for receipt of casualties'. missile may be seen on the extremej I !hl!accompanying police escorts. The the signal to police thJIt bomqs have If a severe accident damages a left of the picture). The missiles are .official RAF slide (facing page) shows been damaged ,n'8f' worse ~'and .nuclear weapon, the greatest hazard then transported to the missile ,uta the composition of the convoy. radioactive material spilled. " would result from an explosion warhead storage depot (above centre). Although the convoy is under RAF If the convoy comes under artrreti" accompanied or followed by a fire. Warheads for refurbishment or control, armed security guards are attack, then the message to be relayed Both Britain and the United States replacement are removed, and load!!d provided by the Royal Marines to the police,is 'BILBO';, ; 1 have extensively studied the possible into the carriers o~the RAF Special Commachio Company, a special results of such accidentsro nuclear Convoy (above right the convoy is This is ODDLY - under attack by weapons during storage or transport. seFurity force formed in 1980. arm~4 pa~\y at grid reference ...• seen mustering). After the Comrnachio company manne guards BILBtJ, BILBO, BILBO! ... These studies have not been Helensburgh accident (main photo), are stationed at the Clyde submarine published; however, a 1979 study by the damage (and by then unloaded) bases, Faslane and Coulport, and at The New Statesman first published a the US Congress General nuclear weapons carrier was spotted a: ,qeRots holding nuclear naval photograph-vofv the' RAF Special Accounting Office has been few days later under tow near OJif,o.rd, weapons - believed to be Dean Hill, Convoy in 1982, followed by an published, which predicted that, limping back to base (below left). near Salisbury, and Ernesettle, near artist's impression of the overall under typical atmospheric Official instructions on the , Plymouth. Just two naval ports -..,. convoy a year later (NS IQJ1.!PI! W83. conditions, a severe nuclear weapons 'Security of RAF Special Convoys' Portsmouth and Devonport - are Since then; Criiisewatch and accident might generate a radioactive are contained in orders issued to chief 'certified' safe for nuclear weapons. Polariswatch groups and others have plume extending for 28 miles and constables. The copy we have The convoy is fitted with advanced logged over 80 sightings. spreading across 2.5 miles. obtained was issued to Avon and communications equipment, with The convoys are controlled by the The published US assessment Somerset Constabulary, as 'Force which it can contact any force in RAF Special Safety Organisation, corresponds closely with similar Permanent Operational Order whose area it is travelling. The based at RAF Locking near Weston calculations made by British \ Number 3.' The Force will not convoy. commanders and support Super Mare. Wherever the convoy scientists from A1dermaston, wfio comment on the contents of the vehicles are fitted with long range goes, the Special Safety Organisation carried out a series of tests called Order, but say that changes have been high frequency radios with which provides a radiological safety team on Vixen B on the Maralinga range in made recently. 'the convoy is in constant standby, known as a Base Support Australia during the early 1960s.The The instructions, classified as communication with its MoD Team (BST). objective was to discover what would 'Secret', say that the movement of Control, which continuously The BST includes 14 specially happen to a nuclear weapon damaged 'special weapons by road convoy ... is monitors its progress'. . trained RAF personnel and a in transit. According to one of the carried out by RAF teams specially -The convoy 'can use four special 'Medical Centre' team. In the event reports prepared before the current trained for the purpose [including] codewords to identify itself: of an accident, their tasks include Australian Royal Commission armed Service personnel.' The CUBAN, ODDLY, SOLID, or providing a 'cordon at 300 metre inquiry, the likely dispersal of convoys are 'completely self- HURRY. In the event of an accident, radius minimum [ensuring] that plutonium in these tests required 'a sufficient regarding the security and the nuclear convoy must broadcast cordon contains the radioactive radiological safety radius of"35 safety of the load being escorted', and the secret codeword 'OLDHAM', hazard'. They must then 'provide miles', 'I .. '. the WE 177. Even when the new plutonium The RAF's nuclear capacity, in contrast to attack Moscow, more of the missiles had to be manufacturing facilities at Aldermaston, the the Navy, had always been subject to firm targetted there, in order to assure Moscow's 'A90' complex, become available during the political control. It is not normally allowed off destruction. next three years, two of the four processing the ground with nuclear weapons in an armed A great deal ofChevaline testing still remains 'bays' will not be available for Trident warhead or armable condition. The OD(SA) committee to be done. According to US documents on manufacturing. According to secret bulding ordered that all nuclear weapons be taken off strategic missile testing, 'A3TK' (Chevaline) specifications for the new complex, one baywill the task force after it reached Ascension Island. firing tests are to be conducted continuously at be needed to recover plutonium from existing A Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel collected them. the US Air Force Eastern Test Range, off British nuclear weapons and a second will be There w~re thus no tactical nuclear weapons Florida, every year from now until 1988. needed for research and development work on on board the surface ships sent south to the But the Chevaline stockpile is also much the replacement for WEI77 and the navy Falklands. The deep-diving vessel sent to smaller than is normally assumed. There is not nuclear depth charges. recover 'equipment' from the sunken wreck of one missile for everyone of the 64 launch tubes By the time Trident warhead manufacture HMS Coventry - widely suspected at the time on British Polaris submarines, since, at any finishes, after 8-10 years of production, many of to have been an attempt to recover lost nuclear given time, one Polaris submarine is always in the WEI77 bombs will have exceded their weapons - was in fact attempting to retrieve 'long refit' at Rosyth naval dockyard. A second design lifetime of about 25 years and will top secret cryptographic equipment and submarine is usually in 'short refit' and not urgently need replacement (if the government codebooks which the destroyer's captain had available for service in less than four to six of the day chooses to keep nuclear weapons). not had time to destroy. Type 42 destroyers, weeks. Only one submarine is on patrol at any Five years ago, the Ministry of Defence's like Coventry, do not carry nuclear weapons in time, while a second submarine must be Assistant Chief Scientific Adviser (Nuclear)" peacetime. ._ available to take over before it has returned to Dennis Fakley, told the House of Commons After 1982, all the RN nuclear depth bombs port. In consequence, sufficient missiles and Defence Committee that: were taken back to, and kept in, British depots. warheads are only needed to equip two But the advent of nuclear capable Sea Harrier submarines, plus spares. About forty full The Trident missile is capable of carrying eight aircraft has given the Navy the chance to lobby Chevaline warheads therefore suffice. It is the warheads. There is no guarantee that you neccessarily will carry eight warheads on that for new nuclear roles. fitting and refitting of these warheads that has Trident missile (our emphasis). resulted in the increased Special Convoy traffic THE ONLY authoritative statement about the between Burghfield and Scotland. In fact, according to official sources, there Chevaline improvement programme for Polaris remains 'no way that the UK can produce missiles is the opaque official assertion that the THE CURRENT 'SHORTAGE' of nuclear enough plutonium for Trident warheads; half installation of Chevaline 'does not involve any warheads, compared to delivery systems, is the warhead slots will be empty'. Yet, in 1982, increase in the number of warheads associated nothing new. A similar situation occurred in the the government decided to order Trident D5 with the Polaris force'. Chevaline is said not to early 1960s, when the RAF obtained large missiles, instead of the earlier C4 variety. Each be a MIRV (Multiple Independent Re-entry numbers of V-bombers, but had only a handful D5 missile will have six extra empty spaces. Vehicle) system, where different warheads can of bombs. By 1960, the RAF had 14 V bombers be aimed at different targets. squadrons - but sufficient bombs for less than THE OLD 'TACTICAL' bomb, the WEI77, This statement, if not wholly untrue, is a quarter of the aircraft available. was first delivered to the RAF in September certainly misleading. The Chevaline system The result was a desperate scramble to find 1966. Some V-bombers were equipped with does permit separate targets to be identified and alternative uses for at least six squadrons of this weapon rather than the British built attacked - but the spread, or 'footprint', of the V-bombers. Many aircraft were abandoned as 'Yellow Sun' hydrogen bombs. The Yellow warheads cover a smaller area than is customary bombers and refitted instead for refuelling, Suns have all now been taken apart, while for US or Soviet MIRVed missiles. reconnaissance or electronic jamming WE 177s are described as growing a 'bit long in Despite this, the Chevaline programme has operations. Three squadrons were allocated the tooth'. Stocks of the WE 177 bomb are held ironically reduced the number of targets which completely to NATO, not national at a few RAF bases where nuclear capable can be attacked, because of the requirement that requirements, and thus gained access to US aircraft are based, including Honington in there must be a British capacity to destroy nuclear weapons instead. Suffolk, Lossiemouth in Scotland, Coltishall Moscow - known as the 'Moscow criterion'. The shortage became more acute once the near Norwich and St Mawgan in Cornwall, as The raison d'etreofthe British nuclear deterrent Polaris submarines were operating, as the RAF well as Laarbruch in Germany. has always been that, despite the normal had to hand over its bombs to be put instead on The RAF Special Weapons Convoy has been commitment of British Polaris missiles and top of Polaris missiles. As the Polaris regularly observed in transit to and from bombers to Nato, they can be used submarines came into service, RAF bombers Honington and, less frequently, St Mawgan. Its independently 'where Her Majesty's and Blue Steel missiles were withdrawn and . most frequent trips take it from the Burghfield Government may decide that supreme national scrapped. The Navy's takeover and eventual factory to Scotland; then via temporary stops at interests are at stake'. dismantlement of all the RAF's thermonuclear RAF bases in Carlisle, Leeming or Wittering, During the debate about Chevaline in the weapons may help to explain why some former to Honington. It then returns to Burghfield via early 1970s, there was extensive argument Bomber Command officers have fulminated Cambridge and Oxford, or via Slough and about the Moscow criterion. The question about Polaris, frequently coupling the Royal Watford, or it goes on to the underground arose whether it sufficed for national deterrent Navy with CND and the Communist Party as Royal Naval Armament Depot at Dean Hill, purposes to have the capacity to attack a range equal threats to national security. east of Salis bury. of major and minor Soviet cities - or whether it Former Bomber Command chief, Air Vice- The Navy has its own, relatively small stock was essential to be able to destroy Moscow, Marshal Stewart Menaul has called Polaris 'not of nuclear depth bombs. For some time after the despite its growing ring of anti-missile credible' and the 'greatest blunder in recent Falklands War, they were not allowed to take defences. military history'. U nderl ying this statement them to sea. Ministers had belatedly discovered The official justification for proceeding with may be an awareness on the part of the military that the admirals had sent three quarters of the Chevaline was that the ability to attack Moscow that British unwillingness to enter our nuclear total British naval nuclear stockpile towards the had to be retained. The new warheads therefore weapons in arms negotiations with the Russians South Atlantic battle zone. employ 'penetration aids' to confuse tracking may be less because the government is afraid to In peacetime, nuclear depth bombs are only radars and other Soviet defence systems. The trade and more because there is little to allowed on board attack carriers (like HMS Chiefs of Staff, and some nuclear planners, had trade. 0 Hermes and HMS Invincible) and certain anti- reservations about this objective. But if submarine frigates. As all of the available ships Chevaline had not gone ahead in the early NEXT WEEK: The peace time health hazards in these classes set offfor the Falklands in 1982, 1970s, the Aldermaston nuclear weapons of nuclear weapons. the 'War Cabinet' - the Oversea and Defence design staff would have had nothing to do. committee (South Atlantic) - were warned that Eventually, the nuclear target planners were The Yorkshire TV documentary, Inside Britain's most of the Navy's nuclear weapons would soon hoist with their own petard. Since the ostensible Bomb, based in part on these disclosures, will be shown cross the equator. purpose ofChevaline was to retain the ability to 011 Tuesday 3 December at 10.40 p.m .. 12