Polaris Sales Agreement
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
which formally arranged for the Polaris
UGM-27 Polaris
The Polaris missile was a two-stage solid-fuel nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missile built during the Cold War by Lockheed Corporation of California for the United States Navy....
missile system to be provided to the UK to maintain its independent nuclear deterrent. The arrangement had been set up in principle as a result of the Nassau Agreement
Nassau agreement
The Nassau Agreement, concluded on 22 December 1962, was a treaty negotiated between President John F. Kennedy for the United States and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan for the United Kingdom...
. The agreement was amended in 1982 to provide the Trident missile
Trident missile
The Trident missile is a submarine-launched ballistic missile equipped with multiple independently-targetable reentry vehicles . The Fleet Ballistic Missile is armed with nuclear warheads and is launched from nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines . Trident missiles are carried by fourteen...
system to the UK.
The United Kingdom had been planning to buy the air-launched Skybolt missile but the USA decided to cancel the Skybolt program in 1962 as they no longer needed the missile. The British bought the Polaris submarine-launched ballistic missile instead.
The Nassau Agreement was signed on December 18, 1962 resulting in the signing of the Polaris Sales Agreement on April 6, 1963. The United States would supply the United Kingdom with Polaris missiles, launch tubes, and the fire control system
Fire-control system
A fire-control system is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director, and radar, which is designed to assist a weapon system in hitting its target. It performs the same task as a human gunner firing a weapon, but attempts to do so faster and more...
. The UK would make the warheads and submarines. In return, the U.S. was given certain assurances by the United Kingdom regarding the use of the missile, however the U.S. does not have any veto on the use of British nuclear weapons.
The British Polaris submarines were the Resolution
Resolution class submarine
The Resolution-class submarine armed with the Polaris missile was the United Kingdom's primary nuclear deterrent from the late 1960s to 1994, when they were replaced by the Vanguard-class submarine carrying the Trident II.-Background:...
-class ballistic missile
Ballistic missile
A ballistic missile is a missile that follows a sub-orbital ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering one or more warheads to a predetermined target. The missile is only guided during the relatively brief initial powered phase of flight and its course is subsequently governed by the...
submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s, the first of which entered service in 1968. The Polaris system underwent a British-designed life extension programme called Chevaline
Chevaline
Chevaline was a system to improve the penetrability of the British Polaris missile warheads. Devised as an answer to the improved Soviet defences around Moscow, the system was intended to increase the probability that at least one warhead would penetrate the city's anti-ballistic missile defences,...
that reduced the number of warheads and added defensive measures.
Trident
The Polaris Sales Agreement was used as the model for the UK's purchase of the Trident weapon system to replace Polaris in British service. The arrangements were almost identical to that for Polaris, the United Kingdom procured the Trident system from America and fitted them to their own submarines, the VanguardVanguard class submarine
The Vanguard class are the Royal Navy's current nuclear ballistic missile submarines , each armed with up to 16 Trident II Submarine-launched ballistic missiles...
-class. HMS Vanguard
HMS Vanguard (S28)
The eleventh HMS Vanguard of the Royal Navy is the lead boat of her class of Trident ballistic missile-armed submarines. The submarine is based at HMNB Clyde, Faslane....
entered operational service in December 1994.
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
had written to President Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
on July 10, 1980 to request that he approve supply of Trident I missiles. However in 1982 Thatcher wrote to President Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
to request the United Kingdom be allowed to procure the Trident II (Trident D5) system, the procurement of which had been accelerated by the US Navy. This was agreed in March 1982.
Under the Polaris Sales Agreement, the United Kingdom paid a 5% levy on the cost of equipment supplied in recognition of US research and development costs already incurred. The R&D contribution to Trident comprised payments amounting to $116M with no on-going R&D levy. U.S. suppliers are paid via the U.S. based Polaris Trust Fund.
See also
- British replacement of the Trident systemBritish replacement of the Trident systemThe British replacement of Trident is a proposal to replace the existing Vanguard class of four Trident ballistic-missile armed submarines with a new class designed to continue a nuclear deterrent after the current boats reach the end of their service lives...
- Nuclear weapons and the United KingdomNuclear weapons and the United KingdomThe United Kingdom was the third country to test an independently developed nuclear weapon, in October 1952. It is one of the five "Nuclear Weapons States" under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which the UK ratified in 1968...
- 1958 US-UK Mutual Defence Agreement1958 US-UK Mutual Defence AgreementThe 1958 US–UK Mutual Defence Agreement is a bilateral treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom on nuclear weapons cooperation.It was signed after the UK successfully tested its first hydrogen bomb during Operation Grapple. While the U.S...