No Cover Image

Journal article 1067 views

Britain and the chevaline project: The hidden nuclear programme, 1967–82

John Baylis, Kris Stoddart Orcid Logo

Journal of Strategic Studies, Volume: 26, Issue: 4, Pages: 124 - 155

Swansea University Author: Kris Stoddart Orcid Logo

Full text not available from this repository: check for access using links below.

Check full text

DOI (Published version): 10.1080/0141-2390312331279718

Abstract

With the words quoted above, the new Secretary of State for Defence in the Thatcher government revealed for the first time the existence of a project that have remained a closely guarded secret, even from amny Cabinet members of four governments, since the late 1960s. Despite the passage of more tha...

Full description

Published in: Journal of Strategic Studies
ISSN: 0140-2390 1743-937X
Published: Informa UK Limited 2003
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57349
first_indexed 2021-07-20T08:59:28Z
last_indexed 2021-07-21T03:21:37Z
id cronfa57349
recordtype SURis
fullrecord <?xml version="1.0"?><rfc1807><datestamp>2021-07-20T09:59:29.9674867</datestamp><bib-version>v2</bib-version><id>57349</id><entry>2021-07-15</entry><title>Britain and the chevaline project: The hidden nuclear programme, 1967&#x2013;82</title><swanseaauthors><author><sid>b794dd4728d670a0bc8584c634b74426</sid><ORCID>0000-0003-4996-6482</ORCID><firstname>Kris</firstname><surname>Stoddart</surname><name>Kris Stoddart</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>false</ethesisStudent></author></swanseaauthors><date>2021-07-15</date><deptcode>SOSS</deptcode><abstract>With the words quoted above, the new Secretary of State for Defence in the Thatcher government revealed for the first time the existence of a project that have remained a closely guarded secret, even from amny Cabinet members of four governments, since the late 1960s. Despite the passage of more thatn 20 years since Mr Pym's announcement, the story of the Chevaline project still remains largely unknown outside a small group of select politicians, officials and scientists. This article sets out to use recently declassified documents and what is in the public domain to tell the story of Chevaline from the secret debates about the need to improve Britain's Polaris deterrent force shortly after it was deployed in the late 1960s to the official announcement of the project in 1980 and its eventual operational deployment in 1982. In particular, attention is focused on three main questions: Why was the project kept secret for so long? Why did the improvement programme take so long to come to fruition? Why, given the spiraling costs involved, was it not cancelled? In order to consider these questions relating to what Pym described as &#x2018;the front end&#x2019; of the Polaris missile, it is necessary to begin by looking at the background to the project.</abstract><type>Journal Article</type><journal>Journal of Strategic Studies</journal><volume>26</volume><journalNumber>4</journalNumber><paginationStart>124</paginationStart><paginationEnd>155</paginationEnd><publisher>Informa UK Limited</publisher><placeOfPublication/><isbnPrint/><isbnElectronic/><issnPrint>0140-2390</issnPrint><issnElectronic>1743-937X</issnElectronic><keywords/><publishedDay>1</publishedDay><publishedMonth>12</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2003</publishedYear><publishedDate>2003-12-01</publishedDate><doi>10.1080/0141-2390312331279718</doi><url/><notes/><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><department>Social Sciences School</department><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><DepartmentCode>SOSS</DepartmentCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><apcterm/><lastEdited>2021-07-20T09:59:29.9674867</lastEdited><Created>2021-07-15T13:29:16.6130802</Created><path><level id="1">Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences</level><level id="2">School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy</level></path><authors><author><firstname>John</firstname><surname>Baylis</surname><order>1</order></author><author><firstname>Kris</firstname><surname>Stoddart</surname><orcid>0000-0003-4996-6482</orcid><order>2</order></author></authors><documents/><OutputDurs/></rfc1807>
spelling 2021-07-20T09:59:29.9674867 v2 57349 2021-07-15 Britain and the chevaline project: The hidden nuclear programme, 1967–82 b794dd4728d670a0bc8584c634b74426 0000-0003-4996-6482 Kris Stoddart Kris Stoddart true false 2021-07-15 SOSS With the words quoted above, the new Secretary of State for Defence in the Thatcher government revealed for the first time the existence of a project that have remained a closely guarded secret, even from amny Cabinet members of four governments, since the late 1960s. Despite the passage of more thatn 20 years since Mr Pym's announcement, the story of the Chevaline project still remains largely unknown outside a small group of select politicians, officials and scientists. This article sets out to use recently declassified documents and what is in the public domain to tell the story of Chevaline from the secret debates about the need to improve Britain's Polaris deterrent force shortly after it was deployed in the late 1960s to the official announcement of the project in 1980 and its eventual operational deployment in 1982. In particular, attention is focused on three main questions: Why was the project kept secret for so long? Why did the improvement programme take so long to come to fruition? Why, given the spiraling costs involved, was it not cancelled? In order to consider these questions relating to what Pym described as ‘the front end’ of the Polaris missile, it is necessary to begin by looking at the background to the project. Journal Article Journal of Strategic Studies 26 4 124 155 Informa UK Limited 0140-2390 1743-937X 1 12 2003 2003-12-01 10.1080/0141-2390312331279718 COLLEGE NANME Social Sciences School COLLEGE CODE SOSS Swansea University 2021-07-20T09:59:29.9674867 2021-07-15T13:29:16.6130802 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy John Baylis 1 Kris Stoddart 0000-0003-4996-6482 2
title Britain and the chevaline project: The hidden nuclear programme, 1967–82
spellingShingle Britain and the chevaline project: The hidden nuclear programme, 1967–82
Kris Stoddart
title_short Britain and the chevaline project: The hidden nuclear programme, 1967–82
title_full Britain and the chevaline project: The hidden nuclear programme, 1967–82
title_fullStr Britain and the chevaline project: The hidden nuclear programme, 1967–82
title_full_unstemmed Britain and the chevaline project: The hidden nuclear programme, 1967–82
title_sort Britain and the chevaline project: The hidden nuclear programme, 1967–82
author_id_str_mv b794dd4728d670a0bc8584c634b74426
author_id_fullname_str_mv b794dd4728d670a0bc8584c634b74426_***_Kris Stoddart
author Kris Stoddart
author2 John Baylis
Kris Stoddart
format Journal article
container_title Journal of Strategic Studies
container_volume 26
container_issue 4
container_start_page 124
publishDate 2003
institution Swansea University
issn 0140-2390
1743-937X
doi_str_mv 10.1080/0141-2390312331279718
publisher Informa UK Limited
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy
document_store_str 0
active_str 0
description With the words quoted above, the new Secretary of State for Defence in the Thatcher government revealed for the first time the existence of a project that have remained a closely guarded secret, even from amny Cabinet members of four governments, since the late 1960s. Despite the passage of more thatn 20 years since Mr Pym's announcement, the story of the Chevaline project still remains largely unknown outside a small group of select politicians, officials and scientists. This article sets out to use recently declassified documents and what is in the public domain to tell the story of Chevaline from the secret debates about the need to improve Britain's Polaris deterrent force shortly after it was deployed in the late 1960s to the official announcement of the project in 1980 and its eventual operational deployment in 1982. In particular, attention is focused on three main questions: Why was the project kept secret for so long? Why did the improvement programme take so long to come to fruition? Why, given the spiraling costs involved, was it not cancelled? In order to consider these questions relating to what Pym described as ‘the front end’ of the Polaris missile, it is necessary to begin by looking at the background to the project.
published_date 2003-12-01T14:06:45Z
_version_ 1821324089131794432
score 11.048042

Similar Items