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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday January 24 2017, @08:11AM   Printer-friendly
from the failure-to-launch dept.

A missile test involving Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent system ended in failure off the coast of Florida last year, a US defense official with direct knowledge of the incident told CNN on Monday.

The official told CNN that the incident, which happened last June in an the area off the Florida coast used by the US and the UK for missile tests, did not in involve a nuclear warhead.

Britain's Sunday Times newspaper reported that the missile veered towards the US coast, but the US official told CNN that this trajectory was part of an automatic self-destruct sequence. The official said the missile diverted into the ocean -- an automatic procedure when missile electronics detect an anomaly.

A month after the test, the UK parliament approved the renewal of Trident at a cost of £40 billion. Unaware of the failure, members of the House of Commons voted by 472 votes to 117 in favor of renewal.

On Sunday, British Prime Minister Theresa May was asked four times during an interview with the BBC's Andrew Marr Show whether she knew of the missile failure before the vote. May refused to answer.

Source:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/23/europe/trident-missile-failure-theresa-may/index.html

-- submitted from IRC


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 24 2017, @09:38AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 24 2017, @09:38AM (#458018)

    From the summary:

    The official told CNN that the incident […] did not in involve a nuclear warhead.

    If I understand correctly, this official is the only source through which the incident is known.

    From the Independent article you quoted:

    a nuclear weapon misfired in their direction.

    This doesn't exactly instil confidence in the accuracy of the rest of the Independent article.

  • (Score: 2) by butthurt on Tuesday January 24 2017, @10:42AM

    by butthurt (6141) on Tuesday January 24 2017, @10:42AM (#458033) Journal

    I agree that something like "nuclear-capable" would have been the accurate thing to say. The article is mainly about Ms. May's interview by Andrew Marr; the interview is available on video in various places:

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2017/jan/22/theresa-may-dodges-question-trident-misfire-four-times-video [theguardian.com]
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPGjBkwyXXI [youtube.com]
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KINeq-N0wc8 [youtube.com] (this one I watched--it is what it says on the tin)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WlVMeIEYpk [youtube.com]

    Were the report of the failed test false, this interview could have served as an opportunity for Ms. May to say so. While valid military or diplomatic reasons for not saying so may exist, such a degree of secrecy would seem to be at odds with a parliamentary government.