19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what stage of procurement has been reached in respect of the fourth Trident submarine.
27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about the programme for ordering and commissioning a fourth Trident submarine.
Contract negotiations with Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd. for the fourth Trident submarine are under way. We intend to place the order as soon as these negotiations have been satisfactorily concluded. Meanwhile, construction of steelwork and major engineering items is making good progress under long lead funding arrangements.
23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the maximum number of nuclear warheads that will be carried when the Trident programme is completed; and how many the United Kingdom had 10 years ago.
It has been the practice of successive Governments not to specify publicly the size of our nuclear weapon holdings. However, no United Kingdom Trident submarine will carry more than 128 warheads.
24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a further statement on progress towards completion and commissioning of the first three Trident submarines.
Construction of the first three Vanguard class Trident missile submarines at Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd. is making good progress, with all on schedule to meet their planned in-service dates.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the progress of the Trident programme.
The Trident programe remains on time and within budget. The first submarine, Vanguard, is set to roll out of the Devonshire dock hall in Barrow tomorrow, and following a series of sea trials, will enter service with the Royal Navy in the mid-1990s.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the total cost of the Trident programme, including a breakdown of running costs and capital costs for each of the financial years 1992–93 to 1995–96.
The currently estimated cost of the Trident programme is £10·518 million. Estimated capital expenditure on the Trident programme for the financial years 1992–93 and 1993–94 is £1,019 million and £827 million respectively. It remains our practice not to provide detailed forecasts of project expenditure more than two years in advance. We do not expect the level of running costs of the Trident force to be significantly different from those of Polaris.