The British Navy conducted an unsuccessful test launch of a Trident II D5 ballistic missile from the refurbished nuclear submarine HMS Vanguard. After the launch, the missile immediately veered off course and landed next to the submarine, with UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and First Sea Lord (head of the Navy) Admiral Ben Key on board. This was reported by The Sun newspaper.
“The Trident missile gave an abrupt misfire and fell into the ocean a few metres from the British nuclear submarine from which it was launched … the failed launch … occurred when Defence Secretary Grant Shapps was on board HMS Vanguard to observe the test,” The Sun reported.
According to the newspaper, the failed test launch of the Trident II D5 ballistic missile occurred on 30 January during a training mission in the Atlantic Ocean near the coast of the US state of Florida. The Trident II D5 was originally planned to fly nearly 6,000 kilometres to hit a target point in the central Atlantic between Brazil and West Africa. As a result of the incident, an investigation into the circumstances of the incident was initiated. In addition, the UK has launched a search operation to retrieve fragments of the missile from the seabed at Canaveral Harbour. The Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence told the publication that during the launch “an anomaly occurred”.
“HMS Vanguard and her crew have demonstrated full readiness to operate a continuous maritime deterrent by passing all tests during the recent standardised test launches required to confirm that the submarine can return to service after extensive repair work. The test confirmed the effectiveness of the UK’s nuclear deterrent, of which we are absolutely confident. An anomaly occurred during the test. For national security reasons, we cannot provide further information on this topic,” the UK Ministry of Defence explained.
The Sun recalled that in the XXI century, the UK Navy only five times conducted launches of Trident II D5 missiles, the last of which took place in 2016. Then the ballistic missile, fired by the submarine HMS Vengeance near the coast of Florida, was supposed to fly 9,000 kilometres and hit a target in the south-east of Ascension Island in the southern Atlantic Ocean. But the missile, manufactured by the US company Lockheed Martin, deviated from the course and automatically self-destructed.
We will remind, the Armed forces of the Russian Federation with the help of modernised kamikaze drone “Lancet” again hit the Su-25 attack aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force (VVSU) at the military airfield Dolgintsevo in Krivoy Rog. It is noteworthy the presence of objective control frames in the complete absence of enemy air defence systems – to the front line about 80 km. Before that, a video of a barrage drone strike on a MiG-29 fighter aircraft of the Air Force in the Kryvyi Rih region was published.
