The WE 177 nuclear weapon ended up being the most expensive weapon ever deployed by the RAF.
The United Kingdom is a nuclear power, with an estimated 225 nuclear weapons in total, of which 120 are operationally available and only forty of which are deployed at a time. The entirety of the British nuclear stockpile is under the operational control of the Royal Navy (RN), namely the RN’s four Vanguard-class submarines, which in turn are slated to be replaced by the Dreadnought-class boats sometime in the 2030s. (As for the RN’s Astute-class subs, though they’re nuclear-powered, they’re apparently not currently provisioned to wield actual nuclear warheads.)
This stands in notable contrast to the U.S. nuclear stockpile, wherein two of the three legs of the American nuclear triad—ground-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and air-dropped gravity bombs—are under the operational control of the U.S. Air Force. That said, there was a time—namely, during the heady days of the Cold War—when the Royal Air Force (RAF) also had its share of tactical nukes. The last of these was the WE 177.
The WE 177 Nuclear Weapon
As luck would have it, I recently stumbled upon a video on the RAF Museum’s YouTube channel with a catchy title: “A Bigger Bang – The Untold Story of the WE 177 The RAF’s Last Nuclear Weapon.” This includes a recording of a broadcast originally aired sometime in 2022. The guest speaker/presenter was Thomas Withington, associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, an award-winning analyst and writer specializing in electronic warfare, radar, and military communications.
WE 177 Specifications and Other Key Information
During the video presentation, Withington gives an extensive history of the U.K.’s Cold War nuclear weapons program in addition to going over the specifics of the WE 177. Among the salient points presented by the speaker,
- The WE 177 was designed as a replacement for the U.K.’s first tactical nuke, the so-called Red Beard (which was carried by English Electra Canberra jet-powered bombers as well as several other RAF and RN Fleet Air Arm warbirds).
- The weapon was designed with both the RAF and RN in mind; the latter intended it as a complement to the Polaris submarine-launched ballistic missile.
- The program started off with inert prototypes for testing purposes, both the WE-177A and WE-177B, of which 444 were built and tested at sites spread out throughout the U.K. The 177B fission bomb would turn out to be the first operational variant (as well as the most powerful version, with a yield of 450 kilotons). It entered service in 1966, prompting Withington to remark, “Ironically, the Bravo entered service before the Alpha; there we go, that’s just how defence procurement works!”
- The 177 “Alpha” (in turn went operational with the RN in 1969; this was a 10-kiloton boosted fission bomb used in the strike role, i.e., attacking Soviet Navy capital ships. Three years later, the RN acquired a sub-variant of the 177A, this time an 0.5 kiloton nuclear depth bomb, i.e., a nuclear depth charge.
- Not to be outdone, the RAF would acquire its own boosted fission variant of the bomb, the WE-177C. All in all, a total of 272 operational WE 177s entered service with the RAF and RN.
- The WE 177 ended up being the most expensive weapon ever deployed by the RAF; Withington cited forecast development costs of £370 million (2021 value; in turn equivalent to $491.25 million at the current exchange rate).
Closing Thoughts/Where Are They Now?
Fortunately, these weapons were never used “in anger,” thanks to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie variants of the WE 177 were retired in 1992, 1995, and 1998, respectively.
“And with that,” Withington concludes, “the tactical nuclear weapons chapter in the RAF closes and in fact the RAF’s nuclear chapter closes for good.”
In case anybody is curious, two inert WE-177A operational rounds have been preserved for historical posterity at the following locations:
About the Author: Christian D. Orr
Christian D. Orr was previously a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ) and 19FortyFive. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch, The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). If you’d like to pick his brain further, you can ofttimes find him at the Old Virginia Tobacco Company (OVTC) lounge in Manassas, Virginia, partaking of fine stogies and good quality human camaraderie.
Image: The wub, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
