§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 18 December,Official Report, column 985, what is (a) the full complement deployment of the two Trident submarines currently operational and (b) the full potential complement for HMS Victorious; for what reason there is a difference between these figures and the number of missiles collected by his Department 447W for deployment on (i) the two submarines and (ii) HMS Victorious. [14292]
§ Mr. ArbuthnotEach of our Trident submarines is capable of carrying 16 missiles. To date, we have collected 32 missiles from the US, of which four have been test fired. I am not prepared to give details of missile deployment.
§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the answer of 18 December,Official Report, column 985, if HMS Vigilant and HMS Vengeance will each need to conduct two test firings of Trident missiles before entering operational service. [14290]
§ Mr. ArbuthnotIt is the norm for each strategic submarine ballistic nuclear to conduct at least one test firing, as part of its demonstration and shakedown operation, before its entry into operational service. The actual number fired will depend on a variety of factors, including the requirement to gather launch data for various modelling purposes.