§ 12. Mr. John MarshallTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about planned expenditure on the Trident programme in 1993–94.
§ Mr. AitkenOur current estimate for capital expenditure on the Trident programme in the financial year 1993–94 is £827 million.
§ Mr. MacdonaldTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to paragraph 1, page 28, of the Statement on the Defence Estimates, if possible future650W revisions of the assessment of the number of nuclear warheads that need to be deployed on each Trident submarine will include raising the self-imposed maximum limit of 128.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonThe Government have long made it clear that their planning for the Trident force is based on deploying in each Trident submarine no more than 128 warheads.
§ Mr. MacdonaldTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if it is his policy to deploy a front-end on the United Kingdom's Trident missiles that will be capable of carrying more than eight warheads; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonThe actual number of warheads which will be carried by the D5 missile in United Kingdom service, and the maximum number that could be, is classified information. The Government have, however, made it clear that each United Kingdom Trident submarine will carry no more than 128 warheads.