Trident fiasco ‘covered up by No10’
A MAJOR malfunction in the UK’s Trident nuclear missile deterrent was covered up by Downing Street, it was claimed last night.
Reports alleged that Number 10 imposed a ‘news blackout’ after a Trident II D5 missile veered off course during a test last June off the coast of Florida.
The missile, fired from HMS Vengeance, was reportedly aimed at a sea target off the west coast of Africa but veered off towards the United States.
Trident, which operates from submarines based at Faslane, Dunbartonshire, can kill millions when armed with nuclear warheads, although it was unarmed on this occasion, reports said.
The incident is understood to have taken place only weeks before a crucial House of Commons vote on the future of the missile defence system.
It was the only firing test of a British nuclear missile in four years.
A senior naval source told a Sunday newspaper: ‘There was a major panic at the highest level of government and the military after the first test of our nuclear deterrent ended in disastrous failure.
‘The upcoming Trident vote made it all the more sensitive.’
The incident took place shortly before Theresa May replaced David Cameron as Prime Minister.
But Mrs May was accused of omitting any reference to the failed test when MPs voted in July to renew Trident and spend £31 billion on four replacement submarines to deliver the deterrent.
Last night, Labour MP Kevan Jones, a former defence minister, said: ‘The UK’s independent nuclear deterrent is a vital cornerstone for the nation’s defence.
‘Ministers should come clean if there are problems and there should be an urgent inquiry into what happened.’
A Government statement confirmed that the Royal Navy had conducted ‘a routine unarmed Trident missile launch’ from HMS Vengeance, adding that the submarine and crew were ‘successfully tested and certified’.
Officials refused to provide further details on the submarine’s operations for ‘security reasons’.