UK to expand nuclear weapons stockpile as long-awaited Integrated Review made public
Information on the number of operational UK warheads will no longer be made public, in order to ‘complicate’ calculations of potential aggressors.
The UK has moved to expand its nuclear weapon stockpile up to 260 warheads, in a major reversal of a decade-long effort begun by the then coalition government to reduce the nuclear ceiling from 225 to 180 weapons.
Announced on 16 March in the first part of the long-awaited Integrated Review (IR), the reasoning behind the decision spoke of a ‘recognition of an evolving security environment’ and, in particular, the ‘developing range of technological and doctrinal threats’.
The warheads, known to be capable of producing a 100-kiloton explosion, are mounted on Trident II D5 ballistic missiles housed in the current
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