UK admits misfiring nuclear-capable Trident missile

Europe, News February 22, 2024 , by IRIA No Comments

The United Kingdom’s Defense Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed the speculations about the embarrassing “anomaly” that resulted in a Trident II D5 missile misfiring during a recent test and crashing into the ocean in Florida.

The Ministry of Defense released a statement on February 21, 2024, admitting that the misfiring incident occurred during a military drill involving HMS Vanguard, the lead boat of her class of Trident ballistic missile-armed submarines.

The statement confirmed that an unarmed Trident missile dramatically misfired and crashed into the ocean yards from the British nuclear submarine that launched it. The submarine was under the surface, hovering at launch depth, but was not hit by the 44-foot-long missile as it plunged back into the Atlantic.

A local English newspaper first unveiled the story last month; however, no official statement was revealed by the government until this week. The Trident test was supposed to travel 6,000 kilometers before landing in the sea between Brazil and West Africa.

Ahead of the launch last month, the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency had issued a warning to shipping that plotted the missile’s expected course to an impact in the mid-Atlantic.

UK's nuclear submarine HMS Vanguard — *^{UK’s nuclear submarine HMS Vanguard at HM Naval Base Clyde, Faslane. (Image Credit: UK MOD/Wikimedia Commons)}*

The recent statement by the British Defense Ministry said that an intense investigation was launched to determine the cause of the mishap, and authorities initiated a search to retrieve the top-secret missile technology from the seabed at Port Canaveral, Florida.

The initial reports suggest that the first-stage boosters did not ignite and the 60-tone missile, which was at that time fitted with dummy warheads. The missile splashed into the Atlantic Ocean and sank.

The statement stressed that the misfiring of the missile was a rare anomaly and that the government had “absolute confidence” in its nuclear deterrent capabilities. Shapps said that there were “no implications for the reliability of the wider Trident missile systems and stockpiles” and “nor are there any implications for our ability to fire our nuclear weapons, should the circumstances arise in which we need to do so.”

His statement added, “The Trident missile system remains the most reliable weapons system in the world, having successfully completed more than 190 tests.”

It is the second Trident missile failure in a row for the Royal Navy’s aging nuclear weapons fleet after a problem with another test-firing in 2016 when a missile flew in the wrong direction.

The Royal Navy operates a fleet of four nuclear-armed submarines carrying Trident nuclear-capable missiles. Trident II D5 missiles, with a range of 4,000 nautical miles are also carried onboard U.S. Navy Ohio-class submarines and manufactured by Lockheed Martin.