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Astraea (nuclear Warhead)
The Astraea A21 is a British nuclear warhead planned to replace the Holbrook warheads on Royal Navy submarines from the 2030s. The new warhead will be carried by the upcoming ''Dreadnought''-class submarines on Trident D5 missiles. It will share the Mark 7 re-entry body used on the planned American W93 warhead. Development Development of a replacement nuclear warhead for the Trident nuclear programme was confirmed on 25 February 2020, by the defence secretary, Ben Wallace. The warhead will be designed, developed, and manufactured in the UK by the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), nationalised in 2021. The UK is participating in the W93 programme as observers, and supporting the UK is one of the specified aims of the project. The UK's stockpile of warheads was planned to decrease from a maximum of 225 to 180 by the mid-2020s, but was instead increased to 260 in the 2021 Integrated Review. The UK also stopped providing information on the numbers of operational and deplo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuclear Weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb types release large quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. Nuclear bombs have had yields between 10 tons (the W54) and 50 megatons for the Tsar Bomba (see TNT equivalent). Yields in the low kilotons can devastate cities. A thermonuclear weapon weighing as little as can release energy equal to more than 1.2 megatons of TNT (5.0 PJ). Apart from the blast, effects of nuclear weapons include firestorms, extreme heat and ionizing radiation, radioactive nuclear fallout, an electromagnetic pulse, and a radar blackout. The first nuclear weapons were developed by the Allied Manhattan Project during World War II. Their production continues to require a large scientific and industrial complex, pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burghfield
Burghfield is a village and large civil parish in West Berkshire, England, with a boundary with Reading. Burghfield can trace its history back to before the Domesday Book, and was once home to three manors: Burghfield Regis, Burghfield Abbas, and Sheffield (or Soefeld). Since the 1980s the population of Burghfield has nearly doubled with the construction of housing estates, making it a dormitory for Reading, Newbury, Basingstoke and the M4 corridor (which crosses the north of the parish). Most of the former sparsely inhabited fields of the hamlet of Pingewood, in the north of the parish, are divided by the M4 motorway and have been converted, after gravel extraction in the mid to late 20th century, into lakes that are used for watersports, fishing, and other leisure activities. They are also a habitat for migrating geese, water fowl and other wildlife. A few higher gravel pits in this area have been drained, clay-lined and used as landfill sites. Besides Burghfield and Pinge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Kingdom And Weapons Of Mass Destruction
The United Kingdom possesses, or has possessed, a variety of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. The United Kingdom is one of the five official nuclear weapon states under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The UK renounced the use of chemical and biological weapons in 1956 and subsequently destroyed its general stocks. Biological weapons During the Second World War, British scientists studied the use of biological weapons, including a test using anthrax on the Scottish island of Gruinard which left it contaminated and fenced off for nearly fifty years until an intensive four-year program to eradicate the spores was completed in 1990. They also manufactured five million linseed-oil cattle cakes with a hole bored into them for addition of anthrax spores between 1942 and mid-1943. These were to be dropped on Germany using specially designed containers each holding 400 cakes, in a project known as Operation Ve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tête Nucléaire Océanique
The ''Tête nucléaire océanique'' ( English: Oceanic nuclear warhead) or TNO is a French thermonuclear warhead designed to equip the M51 ballistic missiles on the ''Triomphant''-class submarines. It has been in service since 2016, replacing the TN 75 warhead, originally designed for the M45, and which also equipped the ''M51'', pending the development and service entry of the ''TNO''. Designed and produced by the CEA's ''Military Applications Division (DAM)'', TNO warheads are an integral part of France's nuclear deterrent program. Nuclear materials As with all thermonuclear warheads, the explosive materials comprise three main elements: uranium, plutonium and tritium, all of which are of military grade. The highly enriched uranium 235 was produced at COGEMA's Pierrelatte plant and the highly enriched plutonium 239 at COGEMA's Marcoule plant. Both were produced before France definitively ceased uranium and plutonium production in 1997, the country having sufficient sto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Insensitive Munition
'Insensitivity' (sensi'tivitē) refers to a lack of sensitivity (human), sensitivity for other's feelings. It may also refer to: * Insensitive (song), "Insensitive" (song), a 1995 song by Canadian singer Jann Arden * Insensitive (House), ''Insensitive'' (House), an episode of the TV series ''House'' * Culturally insensitive See also * Insensibility (other) * Senseless (other) * {{disambig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TNT Equivalent
TNT equivalent is a convention for expressing energy, typically used to describe the energy released in an explosion. A ton of TNT equivalent is a unit of energy defined by convention to be (). It is the approximate energy released in the detonation of a metric ton (1,000 kilograms) of trinitrotoluene (TNT). In other words, for each gram of TNT exploded, (or 4184 joules) of energy are released. This convention intends to compare the destructiveness of an event with that of conventional explosive materials, of which TNT is a typical example, although other conventional explosives such as dynamite contain more energy. A related concept is the physical quantity TNT-equivalent mass (or mass of TNT equivalent), expressed in the ordinary units of mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and diff ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strategic Defence Review (2025)
The Strategic Defence Review is a review of the United Kingdom's defence policy, published on 2 June 2025. It is the first such review carried out by a Labour government since 2003. The review was led by former NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson, with oversight from Defence Secretary John Healey. It was announced on 16 July 2024 by the newly incumbent Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Background The previous defence review was part of the Integrated Review commissioned by Boris Johnson's Conservative government in 2021. It was revised a year later by his successors, Prime Ministers Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since then, Russia has continued its war in Ukraine, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have launched attacks in the Red Sea and against Israel resulting in UK military intervention, China has continued to seek territorial expansion, and North Korea has provided substantial support to Russia's war effort. The armed forces have also e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astraea
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Astraea (; ), also spelled Astrea or Astria, is a daughter of Astraeus and Eos. She is the virgin goddess of justice, innocence, purity, and precision. She is closely associated with the Greek goddess of justice, Dike, the daughter of Zeus and Themis. Astraea is not to be confused with Asteria, the goddess of the stars and the daughter of Coeus and Phoebe. In Greek myth, Astraea lived together with humans on earth during the idealistic Golden Age, when people were virtuous and no evil existed in the world. But as the human race became progressively crueler and more corrupt, Astraea decided to abandon humanity forever and live among the stars as the constellation Virgo. The main belt asteroid 5 Astraea is named after her, and her name was also suggested for the planet Uranus. Etymology The goddess's name "Astraea" (spelled in Ancient Greek ') is derived from the Greek word (''astḗr'') meaning "star". The word in turn is inher ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty
The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is a multilateral treaty to ban nuclear weapons test explosions and any other nuclear explosions, for both civilian and military purposes, in all environments. It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 September 1996, but has not entered into force, as nine specific nations have not ratified the treaty. History Background The movement for international control of nuclear weapons began in 1945, with a call from Canada and the United Kingdom for a conference on the subject. In June 1946, Bernard Baruch, an emissary of President Harry S. Truman, proposed the Baruch Plan before the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission, which called for an international system of controls on the production of atomic energy. The plan, which would serve as the basis for U.S. nuclear policy into the 1950s, was rejected by the Soviet Union as a US ploy to cement its nuclear dominance. Between the Trinity nuclear test of 16 Ju ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aldermaston
Aldermaston ( ) is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. In the 2011 census, the parish had a population of 1,015. The village is in the Kennet Valley and bounds Hampshire to the south. It is approximately from Newbury, Basingstoke, and Reading and is from London. Aldermaston may have been inhabited as early as 1690 BCE; a number of postholes and remains of cereal grains have been found in the area. Written history of the village is traced back at least as far as the 9th century CE, when the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicles'' showed that the Ealdorman of Berkshire had his country estate in the village. The manor of Aldermaston was established by the early 11th century, when the village was given to the Achard family by Henry I; the manor is documented in the Domesday Book of 1086. St Mary the Virgin Church was established in the 13th century, and some of the original Norman architecture remains in the building's structure. The last resident Lord of the Manor, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plutonium
Plutonium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is a silvery-gray actinide metal that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation states. It reacts with carbon, halogens, nitrogen, silicon, and hydrogen. When exposed to moist air, it forms oxides and hydrides that can expand the sample up to 70% in volume, which in turn flake off as a powder that is pyrophoric. It is radioactive and can accumulate in bones, which makes the handling of plutonium dangerous. Plutonium was first synthesized and isolated in late 1940 and early 1941, by deuteron bombardment of uranium-238 in the cyclotron at the University of California, Berkeley. First, neptunium-238 (half-life 2.1 days) was synthesized, which then beta-decayed to form the new element with atomic number 94 and atomic weight 238 (half-life 88 years). Since uranium had been named after the planet Uranus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enriched Uranium
Enriched uranium is a type of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 (written 235U) has been increased through the process of isotope separation. Naturally occurring uranium is composed of three major isotopes: uranium-238 (238U with 99.2732–99.2752% natural abundance), uranium-235 (235U, 0.7198–0.7210%), and uranium-234 (234U, 0.0049–0.0059%). 235U is the only nuclide existing in nature (in any appreciable amount) that is fissile with thermal neutrons. Enriched uranium is a critical component for both civil nuclear power generation and military nuclear weapons. Low-enriched uranium (20% 235U, typically >85%) is used for the cores of many nuclear weapons, as well as compact reactors for naval propulsion and research, as well as breeder reactors. There are about 2,000 tonnes of highly enriched uranium in the world. Enrichment methods were first developed on a large scale by the Manhattan Project. Its gaseous diffusion method was used in the 194 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
