The First British Hydrogen Bomb

[syscom3]

Not much is known about the British nuclear program.

YouTube - The First British Hydrogen Bomb

[Graeme]

Very interesting sys, thanks.



Mr Venning's comments on safety precautions were interesting. The "safe area" being regarded as "behind coconut palms" with instructions to "turn up your collar and cover your eyes". Odd that no one was warned of a latter "blast".

Even covering your eyes and wearing sunglasses had little effect...

Britain's Nuclear Weapons - British Nuclear Testing

"At the end of the countdown, there was a blinding electric blue light, of such an intensity I had not seen before or ever since. I pressed my hands hard to my eyes, then, realised my hands were covering my eyes. This terrific light power, or rays, were actually passing through the tarpaulin, through the towel, and through my head and body, for what seemed ten to twelve seconds, it may have been longer. After that, the pressure wave, which gave a feeling such as when one is deep underwater. This was then followed by a sort of vacuum suction wave, to give a feeling of one's whole body billowing out like a balloon."

It all smacks of Maralinga. I see that the British Nuclear Veterans have similar problems...

BNTVA: Home Page

Crazy cold war days...

[Kruska]

Hello Syscom3,

Very interesting, I wasn’t actually aware about indigenous British nuclear development. I always had in mind that Britain relied on imported US knowhow and Hardware.

Regards
Kruska

[Glider]

I beleive that even today the warheads on British Nuclear Missiles are designed in the UK.

[Kruska]

Originally Posted by Glider

I beleive that even today the warheads on British Nuclear Missiles are designed in the UK.

Hello Glider,

But the only nuclear warhead missiles that England has are Polaris, right?

Regards
Kruska

[Glider]

No we have Trident IID5 missiles in our Ballistic Subs. Work has started on the plans to replace these submarines and Missiles, it will take time, but we will get there.

[syscom3]

Dont you guys use the W-88 nuke warhead?

[Glider]

I don't think so. The British nuclear warheads have variable yeilds which I don't think the US ones have. They were designed at Aldermaston and are an improvement on the US W-76 warheads.

[Kruska]

Hello Glider,

Off course Trident, silly me must have had a blackout, sorry. But it is based on the Polaris ( Lockheed Martin Space Systems) where GB has agreed to contributed with 5%? So it would only be the warhead that is a British development right?

So is Britain able to develop/build these warheads and the missile system by themselfs or are they just involved as purchasers with some British amendments through a 5% investment? similar to the F-35 program.

As for the bombs the entire development was British, using the 175 WE, 177 A and B bombs which I think have been removed from service.

Regards
Kruska

[Glider]

The missiles are American but the Warheads are designed and built in the UK.

Trident is very different to Polaris

[buzzard]

On the subject of nuclear warheads; the neo-con nuts in the US have joined with their defence contracter bedmates to promote the idea that many of their existing warheads cannot be relied upon and hence it is 'vital to national security'* that the idle weapons developers be given billions to replace these largely redundant weapons. Scientific American recently had an article on the subject.

According to the promoters of this program, all mankind shall derive great benefit from these new thermonuclear bombs. They're promising to make them 'greener'...

Yup, environmentally-friendly 'Green' nukes

* i.e., the rich folks need to replace those shabby little 10,000 sq.ft. summer 'cottages' with something a little less cramped ...

JL

[syscom3]

Originally Posted by buzzard

On the subject of nuclear warheads; the neo-con nuts in the US have joined with their defence contracter bedmates to promote the idea that many of their existing warheads cannot be relied upon and hence it is 'vital to national security'* that the idle weapons developers be given billions to replace these largely redundant weapons. Scientific American recently had an article on the subject.

According to the promoters of this program, all mankind shall derive great benefit from these new thermonuclear bombs. They're promising to make them 'greener'...

Yup, environmentally-friendly 'Green' nukes

* i.e., the rich folks need to replace those shabby little 10,000 sq.ft. summer 'cottages' with something a little less cramped ...

JL

And your point is what?

[FLYBOYJ]

Originally Posted by buzzard

On the subject of nuclear warheads; the neo-con nuts in the US have joined with their defence contracter bedmates to promote the idea that many of their existing warheads cannot be relied upon and hence it is 'vital to national security'* that the idle weapons developers be given billions to replace these largely redundant weapons. Scientific American recently had an article on the subject.

According to the promoters of this program, all mankind shall derive great benefit from these new thermonuclear bombs. They're promising to make them 'greener'...

Yup, environmentally-friendly 'Green' nukes

* i.e., the rich folks need to replace those shabby little 10,000 sq.ft. summer 'cottages' with something a little less cramped ...

JL

First off I'd like to see a reference of this because it sound like something between a poor 9-11 conspiracy theory and the "X" files. Second with regards to your "the neo-con nuts in the US have joined with their defence contracter bedmates," well I work as a defence contractor and could tell you first hand that your implication of contractor/ government collusion is as whacked out as your post. In the future I would recommend a reference to a post like that, it will make you look less silly......

[buzzard]

Here's your reference from the left-wing liberal rag...

: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=...are-good-nukes

...and as for 'contracter/government collusion' , being the paranoid fantasy of whacked conspiracy theorists, all I can say is that anyone who has not noticed the shenanigans of the defence industry lobbyists and the politicians over the years is either naive, blind, or both...

That you feel tarred by the admittedly broad stroke of my brush is unfortunate, and for that I apologize, but the fact remains that corruption inevitably follows money, and the billions of dollars at stake in the arms industry ensures that shady business is not a rarity, the 'fair and balanced' swill of the Fox News crowd, notwithstanding.

But hey...What do I care? You're the ones who are gonna have to pay for it, not me

JL

[FLYBOYJ]

Originally Posted by buzzard

Here's your reference from the left-wing liberal rag...

: Special Report: New Nukes Are Good Nukes?: Scientific American

...and as for 'contracter/government collusion' , being the paranoid fantasy of whacked conspiracy theorists, all I can say is that anyone who has not noticed the shenanigans of the defence industry lobbyists and the politicians over the years is either naive, blind, or both...

That you feel tarred by the admittedly broad stroke of my brush is unfortunate, and for that I apologize, but the fact remains that corruption inevitably follows money, and the billions of dollars at stake in the arms industry ensures that shady business is not a rarity, the 'fair and balanced' swill of the Fox News crowd, notwithstanding.

But hey...What do I care? You're the ones who are gonna have to pay for it, not me

JL

No one cannot deny that there has been corruption and collusion in the US defence industry, (probably a lot less than seen in other parts of the world) but even as we hear reports of corruption today, those situations are so far and few because of all the crap US contractors now have to go through to get a government contract (I guess, or I should say I know the system in Canada is a lot different, I lived there for 5 years and worked in your defense industry - but then again your DoD is a fraction of the size of ours so all the nasty stuff is easy to keep in check) but in essence very well said for someone who doesn't live in the US and probably never worked on a major US defense contract - but then again after hearing these comments and your initial post, are you a possible NDP member?

Even as you post information of this "green" nuclear weapon, to try to portray the US defence industry being run by some crazed "neo-cons" sounds like a line from an 1980s anti-nuke protester. I thought by some of your previous posts you were a lot more intelligent than that!

But going back to the beginning of all this - what did your little snippet have to do with the purpose of this thread - are you trying to get into a pissing contest with some of us "south of the border"????