HL Deb 24 March 1981 vol 418 cc1155-6WA
Lord Peart

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they can give estimates of the respective costs of the Trident I missile system and the Polaris system.

The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Viscount Trenchard)

The capital cost of the Polaris force in the 1960s was £330 million at then current prices. The estimated capital cost of the Trident programme is about £5 billion at September 1980 prices. The figure of £330 million is equivalent to £2 billion at September 1980 prices. This figure does not, of course, include the Chevaline modification to Polaris.