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Guidance

The UK's nuclear deterrent: what you need to know

Information about UK nuclear deterrence.

Updates to this page

From:
Ministry of Defence, Defence Nuclear Enterprise and Defence Nuclear Organisation
Published:
26 February 2016
Last updated:
18 August 2026
Show all updates

  1. The PDF attachment 'The UK's nuclear deterrent: what you need to know' has been replaced with a new version because its supply chain information and several photographs were outdated.

  2. The attachments have been updated with the most recent number of UK-based companies in the DNE supply chain (6,000).

  3. The new publication 'A National Endeavour: Nuclear as part of the Defence engine for growth' has been added to the related documents list. The publication 'Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy 2021: nuclear deterrent' has been removed from the related documents list because it is outdated.

  4. Added an HTML version of 'The UK's nuclear deterrent: the National Endeavour Explained' to replace the outdated HTML document 'The UK's nuclear deterrent: what you need to know'.

  5. Updated webpage with latest information.

  6. Updated 'UK Nuclear Deterrence Policy Booklet'.

  7. Updated 'The UK's nuclear deterrent: what you need to know' with reference to the Defence Nuclear Command Paper.

  8. 'The UK's nuclear deterrent: what you need to know' updated with information about the 2023 Integrated Review refresh.

  9. Updated: The UK's nuclear deterrent: what you need to know - content updated under heading: A world without nuclear weapons.

  10. Added: UK Nuclear Deterrence Policy Booklet.

  11. Updated links on: The UK's nuclear deterrent: what you need to know.

  12. Addition of: a NATO graphic and updated the, 'The UK's nuclear deterrent: what you need to know' page.

  13. Updated all information in the 'Nuclear deterrent: what you need to know attachment'.

  14. Updates made to the UK nuclear deterrence: what you need to know document (Updated 14 February 2018).

  15. Added Nuclear deterrent factsheet and included link to factsheet in HTML page.

  16. First published.

Documents

The UK’s nuclear deterrent: the facts

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-uks-nuclear-deterrent-the-facts

The UK's nuclear deterrent: the National Endeavour explained

HTML

The UK's nuclear deterrent: what you need to know

PDF, 14 MB, 24 pages

Details

These publications provide an introduction to and overview of the UK’s approach to nuclear deterrence and the Defence Nuclear Enterprise.

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