§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is likely to be the effect on the provision of Trident D5 missiles to the United Kingdom of the cessation of second-stage propellant manufacture by Morton Thiokol Corporation and whether the United States Government has informed them of the delay in its own so-called "initial operational capability".
§ Lord TrefgarneAn explosion occurred on 29th March at the Hercules plant at Magna, Utah, destroying one of the buildings used for mixing propellant. This has halted production of Trident II second-stage motors by the Hercules/Morton Thiokol joint venture team. The US Navy is working with its contractors to ensure the earliest possible resumption of missile production. As a result of this problem, the failure in flight-testing of a missile on 21st March, and a strike at another Trident contractor's plant, the US authorities have delayed the initial operational capability date of their Trident programme by three months, and have formally notified the UK of this. But I emphasise that none of this is expected to have any effect on the presently planned in-service date for Trident as far as the United Kingdom is concerned.