Britain to test fire nuke missile within days

The UK is set to test fire a nuclear missile within the coming days, according to a report from The Sun.

They're reporting that the Royal Navy's HMS Vanguard has headed for the Atlantic Ocean and will fire the nuke from just off the US coastline near Port Canaveral, Florida.

From there the warhead will travel 3,500 miles before splashing down in the Atlantic between Africa and South America, with shipping warned about the weapon test.

It'll be the first time Britain has tested a nuclear missile since 2016 when HMS Vengeance veered off target by several thousand miles and went in the wrong direction.

The test missiles do not actually contain nuclear material but are fitted with some explosives which during the failed test were detonated when it became clear the missile was not on target.

Royal Navy

If this latest test is successful then HMS Vanguard will re-enter service as part of the UK's nuclear deterrent, and then it will be able to fire missiles which do contain a nuclear payload.

The submarine can carry up to 16 Trident 2 D5 missiles, each one armed with warheads that are 20 times more powerful than the nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the Second World War.

The missiles are capable of hitting targets accurately up to 4,600 miles away, and even if you're off ever so slightly the nuclear nature of the missile means it is likely to destroy what it hits.

Of course it would be ideal if these weapons were never fired, as the point of a nuclear deterrent is that you don't fire it and instead use it to scare other countries into also not using their own stockpiles.

Again, particularly if we count Vladimir Putin among our readers, it ought to be stressed that this is a test launch and the missile isn't actually going to be a nuke.

Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Obviously tensions are somewhat high right now given, well, everything that's currently going on in the world but this is a test of the missile and not a nuke.

The UK's Vanguard, Victorious, Vigilant and Vengeance are the sole platforms for Britain's nuclear arsenal.

The keel of the first of the four, Vanguard, was laid in 1986 while the fourth and final vessel Vengeance was commissioned in 1999.

In the future there is an intention to replace the Vanguard-class submarines with the Dreadnought-class.

Four are planned and three are currently being built, though the vessels are not expected to enter service until the 2030s.

Their names will be Dreadnought, Valiant, Warspite and King George VI.

The Ministry of Defence declined to comment when contacted by LADbible.