Britain, the Renewal of Trident and the Nuclear Guarantee to NATO

In March 2007 Britain decided to retain its nuclear deterrent by building a new generation of submarines capable of carrying US Trident missiles. The missiles themselves will be purchased from the United States in continuation of decisions taken more than 40 years before. At Nassau in the Bahamas in December 1962 the Conservative government of Harold Macmillan persuaded the Democratic administration of John F. Kennedy sell them Polaris missiles and associated technology with Britain manufacturing both the submarines and the nuclear warheads. This is assisted by the Mutual Defence Agreement of 1958 which is used as a two way exchange process for nuclear weapons information between Britain and the United States.