HL Deb 24 July 1997 vol 581 c181WA
Lord Judd

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the commissioning of Trident will involve an increase, decrease or standstill in the size of the United Kingdom's nuclear arsenal in terms of the number of warheads deployed.

Lord Gilbert

The previous government announced that each Trident submarine would deploy with no more than 96 warheads and possibly significantly fewer. It also announced that Trident will assume both the strategic and sub-strategic roles, allowing the withdrawal, without replacement, of our WE177 free-fall bombs. We are considering our future warhead requirements in the light of current circumstances as a part of the Strategic Defence Review.