SpaceWar.com reports: “The UK government said Wednesday that it had ‘absolute confidence’ in its Trident nuclear deterrent system despite a reported missile test failure.
Defence minister Grant Shapps admitted to parliament that ‘an anomaly did occur’ during an exercise on January 30, following reports that a missile fired from the submarine HMS Vanguard fell into the sea.
Shapps said in the written statement that it was ‘longstanding practice’ not to comment on such tests, but that it was providing information ‘in recognition of the level of interest’ in the operation.
‘On this occasion, an anomaly did occur, but it was event specific and there are no implications for the reliability of the wider Trident missile systems and stockpile,’ insisted the minister, who was on board the vessel at the time of the test.
‘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 Sun newspaper reported on Wednesday that the ‘first-stage’ boosters on the dummy Trident 2 missile did not ignite when fired off the coast of Florida, with an anonymous source saying, ‘it just went plop, right next to them’.
It is believed to be the second failed launch in a row…”
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