Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the US Los Alamos National nuclear laboratory and Lawrence Livermore national laboratory have played a role in the research, design or development of the British Astraea nuclear warhead.

We are working with our U.S. counterparts in the U.S. Navy and National Nuclear Security Administration to ensure the UK replacement warhead remains compatible with the Trident missile. The Astraea warhead will be designed, developed, and manufactured in the UK. It will be housed in the Mk7 aeroshell, as will the U.S. W93 warhead, but the requirements, design and manufacture of the warheads are sovereign to each nation. This is consistent with our obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.