PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - The RAF had no nukes until the Early '60s
Old 11th Aug 2010, 20:11
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RIHoward
 
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RAF had really very few 'real' nuclear weapons in '61

Blue Danube (Mark 1)
Essentially a lab-built, limited production weapon
Only about 20 were manufactured by early 1958 when production terminated. It remained in service until 1962
Red Beard
Was in service from 1961 to 1971. A maximum of 80 bombs were in RAF inventory, and about 30 in the Fleet Air Arm stockpile
Violet Club
Deployed in early 1958, only five were planned for deployment.
Yellow Sun Mk 1
Akin to the U.S. "emergency capability" thermonuclear weapons, that is, they were thermonuclear systems that would work, and could be delivered, but cut a lot of corners in engineering and military requirements areas like safety, reliability, cost, stockpile life, flexibility, efficiency, etc. Probably only a few were deployed. 1958 brought Yellow Sun Mk 1 manufacture and development to a halt.
Yellow Sun Mk 2/Red Snow
Entered service in 1961. During their initial deployment, they displaced the similar sized Blue Danubes then in service. The Mk 2s remained in service until 1972, when they were phased out by the WE-177. A maximum of 150 were built.
Blue Steel
Entered service December 1962, full operational status being achieved during 1963 about 40 were deployed
WE 177
Entered service with the RAF in 1966
Polaris Warhead
Design is said to be completed in the spring of 1966, with production beginning in 1966 or 1967

I make that 30 ish Bombs in the stockpile at the start of 1961, 20 of those were 'Lab Built', 5 Violet Clubs, and an unknown number of Yellow Sun Mk 1's also a Heath Robinson 'lab built' device.

The Nuclear Weapon Archive - A Guide to Nuclear Weapons

Last edited by RIHoward; 11th Aug 2010 at 20:23.
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