Britain Drops Big Missile Project

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29898, 11 August 1962, Page 11

Britain Drops Big Missile Project

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, August 10. The British Ministry of Defence today announced the cancellation of its order for the Blue Water nuclear guided missile. The missile has already cost at least £25 million to develop.

An earlier statement by the British Aircraft Corporation said the development of the missile "had been proceeding satisfactorily.” The statement said: “The Blue Water was the main project under development at the corporation’s English Electric aviation factories at Luton and Stevenage. “The development of the weapon had been proceeding satisfactorily and it had been anticipated that the successful trial of Blue Water already held would have been followed by production (The missile had been intended for service in 1965 ) "The sudden and unexpected cancellation of a weapon which has been engaging a considerable part of the total resources of Luton and Stevenage is bound to lead to early redundancies among the 5500 employees. “The corporation will do all in its power to keep these

redundancies to a minimum and to help those made redundant to find alternative employment,” Ute statement said. The Defence Ministry said the cancellation of •'this necessarily expensive project" would enable plans for improving mobility and conventional firepower of the Army to be pressed forward more quickly. The Government realised that the decision would be a severe blow to the British Aircraft Corporation and its employees.

The Ministry said it had been decided to proceed with the Bloodhound tl guided missile, the Trojan armoured troop carrier, the Stalwart carrier, the C.F299 guided weapon, the Swingfire antitank guided weapon, a third nuclear submarine, and six VCIO transport aircraft. The “Daily Telegraph" said the Blue Water would have no successor, which meant that the British Army would not have a tactical weapon of its own The artillery missile has a range of about 75 miles