Babcock works on nuclear weapon system

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LONDON, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Britain's BAE Systems has contracted Babcock for the system definition of the Vanguard tactical weapons handling and launch system.

Under the award, it will also develop the submerged signal ejector for the Vanguard submarine, which is Britain's future strategic nuclear deterrent platform.

"We will be delivering this contract based on a realistic, achievable schedule -- aligned to the Successor (submarine) integrated master schedule and validated against Babcock's experience in previous similar projects ...," said Jeff Lewis, director of Babcock Defense Systems Technology.

"We will be looking throughout to apply our experience to reduce risk and provide greater confidence in schedule adherence, as well as driving out cost of development and minimizing through-life cost of the WHLS and SSE and hence of the overall platform."

Babcock has been working on the WHLS and SSE system concepts for about four years. While building on its previous WHLS and SSE products, such as weapon alignment and shock mounting, Babcock will incorporate new features, such as vertical embarkation, modular torpedo launch tubes and a weapon loading mechanism.