ET.317
ET.317 was a
Development
The US Polaris A-3T warhead was the US
Documents declassified and released into the public domain in 2012 disclose that ET.317 was a warhead that used the
Since the Reggie secondary manufactured in the UK from British-owned materials was a copy of the US W59, by implication, the W59 thermonuclear weapon deployed in some
Although the physical dimensions of ET.317 are not themselves declassified, publicly available information has allowed an estimate to be produced of the reentry vehicle of 509 millimetres (20.0 in) wide at the nose, 663 millimetres (26.1 in) wide before the skirt and 1,800 millimetres (71 in) from the nose to the start of the skirt.[2][3][4]
The yield of ET.317 was stated in official documents on many occasions to be 200 kt. When retired, the Reggie fusion secondary was recycled and reused in its successor, the Chevaline warhead, matched to a new boosted-fission trigger codenamed Harriet. In that form, it is claimed to yield 225 kt, although there are as yet no official sources for that claim. Because the Chevaline warheads numbered two per missile, rather than the previous three ET.317 warheads, the surplus warheads were dismantled and while Jennie was no longer required, some Reggie secondaries were refurbished and installed as the secondary in WE.177C aircraft-delivered tactical nuclear bombs.[5]
References
- ^ The Real Meaning of the Words: A Very Pedantic Guide to British Nuclear Weapons Codenames Archived March 14, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Public Record Office, London. AVIA 65/1845
- ^ Royal Aeronautical Society Symposium. The History of the UK Strategic Deterrent: The Chevaline Programme. 28 October 2004.
- ^ A3T ReB Proportions
- ^ Public Record Office, London. DEFE 19/208 e47/2
