Posted on 06/20/2025 8:51:25 PM PDT by fluorescence
Surrounded by metal fences topped with barbed wire, much of the nuclear weapons facility at Aldermaston in Berkshire looks frozen in time from the 1950s rather than ready for war in the 21st century.
But a renewed focus on the importance of the UK's nuclear deterrent means the government is giving much of its nuclear infrastructure a facelift as it races to build a new warhead by the 2030s when the old stock goes out of service.
Sky News was among a group of news organisations given rare access to the largest of Britain's nuclear weapons locations run by AWE.
The acronym stands for Atomic Weapons Establishment - but a member of staff organising the visit told me that the public body, which is owned by the Ministry of Defence, no longer attributes the letters that make up its name to those words.
The workforce at AWE is expanding fast, with 1,500 new people joining over the past year.
The organisation has some 9,500 employees in total, including about 7,000 at Aldermaston, where the warhead is developed and its component parts are manufactured.
It means the new warhead, called Astrea, will not be detonated for real unless it is used.
The last time, Britain test-fired a bomb was at a facility in Nevada in the US in 1991.
With that no longer an option, the scientists at AWE must rely on old data and new technology...
[snip]the government is spending £15bn over the next four years alone on the programme to build the new warheads.
[snip] No one would say what will be different about the new bomb that is being developed here compared with the version that needs replacing.
One official simply said the incumbent stock has a finite design life and will need to be swapped out.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...
No more nukes in muslim nations.
At the rate they are going the UK will be in a similar condition to Somalia by the 2030’s. Does the US have a plan to sequester their nuclear arsenal when the government collapses?
Let’s just give everybody’s nukes to the aliens. Ask them to take the Democrats too please.
England will be the next radical islamic nation that will have to eventually be de-nuclearized.
Yes indeed...
By the 2030s, the rabid muslim horde will have completed the conquest of Britain, and those new weapons will be in their hands...
I lived in the UK at the height of the Cold War in the late 70s. I was living in Winnersh Wokingham, Berkshire about 35 miles West of London. If war started I had the perfect plan due to my location which is as follows.
1. 17 miles west of Heathrow Airport.
2 15 miles South of High Wycomb USAF-RAF joint command.
3. 13 miles west of Aldermaston, the nuclear assembly and processing center for nuclear bombs.
4. Central London 35 miles.
5. USAF RAF Nuclear Cruise Missiles base Newbury 19 miles.
My plan was perfect. I would quickly go to my backyard with a triple shot of Glenfidich Scotch and one ice cube. I doubt I would have finished it before the greatest fireworks show in history killed me.
For many years I had a similar one. Living in Upstate NY, we were well aware of of the Seneca Army Depot, where (it was widely believed although never officially confirmed) lots of nuclear warheads were stored in large bunkers. We figured that if an enemy decided to take out our resources, that would go up in a blaze of glory easily viewable from our home (albeit somewhat over the horizon).
But the depot was decommissioned about 25 years ago and cleaned out of the weapons, and then left alone to grow weeds and the famous Seneca White Deer.
Some of the bunkers have been repurposed by commercial outfits, and I have personally visited there. I completely believe that they were built to store nuclear weapons - the facilities are clearly of that caliber.
...............”No more nukes in muslim nations.”
That was my first thought too. Horrible what’s happened to merry old England, and they’re too stupid or afraid to send them back where they came from.
We can’t let Britain build a nuke, it will fall into the hands of Pakistan. Bomb them immediately!
Britain is now a puny, impotent nation desperately needing US support to remain relevant, fkMI6.
They don’t have to worry; France will protect them.
When the British House of Commons and Lords begin calling for the destruction of America and Russian, I will echo your outrage. Deal?
I came for this comment. Spot on.
But we’re into pre-emptive action now. By then it will be too late!
So the muzzies will have a nuke in 5 years!
Meanwhile, something to figure into the mix...
David Atherton
@DaveAtherton20
Keir Starmer has warned Donald Trump that homegrown & migrant terrorists in Britain will begin atrocities, if America attacks Iran.
Why are they here? Why are they not being arrested? Why are they not being deported?
Any dead victims, the blood is on your hands.
https://telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/06/19/britain-plea-to-trump-bombing-iran-puts-westerners-at-risk/
3:16 AM · Jun 20, 2025 192.4K Views
https://x.com/DaveAtherton20/status/1935959929799475707
To your point, see my reply #18.
Bet it's not just in London...
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