New research by Space Watch UK reveals that nuclear weapons designers at the Ministry of Defence's Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) are pushing to engage the civil space sector in designing new warhead systems.

The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) – the government-owned enterprise responsible for research, design, manufacture, and maintenance of the UK's weapons of mass destruction – has targeted universities, small businesses, and aerospace contractors as potential collaborators in developing new warhead technologies through work centred around the University of Leicester's Space Park Leicester.

The UK government has committed to designing a new nuclear warhead as part of the programme to replace its Trident nuclear weapons system.  In order to design and build the warhead AWE needs to collaborate with the broader UK science and engineering community, and in particularly with the space sector.  AWE is quietly developing such links, under the pretext that it is contributing its own scientific expertise to the UK space sector while exploiting state-of-the art technologies and equipment developed in the civil space sector.

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Space systems have been of interest to the designers of the UK's atomic weapons since the UK embarked upon the Blue Streak medium range ballistic missile programme in the 1950s.  AWE remains highly interested in scientific fields such as materials science, aero-thermal analysis, miniaturised electrical systems, and modelling and testing methods and is keen to draw on civil space sector expertise in these fields.

In December 2023 AWE announced that it would be collaborating with University of Leicester's Space Park Leicester to  “explore manufacturing development, testing and qualification methods to support future space science and exploration missions”.  AWE's Executive Director for Engineering has described the partnership as a means of “developing our relationships with leading industrial and academic partners to build resilience and strengthen capabilities across UK industry in support of our mission” (emphasis added).

Space Park Leicester will provide a base for AWE engineers and scientists to share research facilities with academic and industry partners to co-operate in a variety of fields, not just space-related technology.  AWE is attempting to outsource some of its work to other parts of the country in an effort to attract personnel who do not wish to move to the expensive South East of England to work.  Some of the posts based at Leicester do not relate to space-based programmes, and will 'poach' engineers and scientists from academia and other businesses in the region.

Previous collaboration between AWE and Space Park Leicester has focused on methods for testing and evaluating space components in different environments.  Job advertisements for posts with AWE at Space Park Leicester have highlighted environmental testing techniques, modelling, and the design and integration of hardware as areas that candidates will be working on, as well as fundamental science associated with designing for space environments.

AWE is also working to recruit businesses who to develop space-related technologies through the Ministry of Defence's Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) programme.  In the autumn of 2024 AWE launched a competition to fund companies developing advanced electronics and electromechanical devices for use in space.

AWE is currently working alongside US nuclear weapons laboratories to develop the new Trident warhead.  Although the US will provide aeroshells for the new warheads if and when they are eventually built,  AWE still maintains a vigorous interest in space science. There are several reasons for this:

• The UK government will wish to hedge against any difficulties with the US-UK relationship that may have implications for warhead collaboration.
• AWE requires expertise in this field to build warhead components and materials, and to integrate these components into the US-supplied aeroshell.
• The UK government wishes to maintain a technology level which would allow it to be ready to develop a future warhead from scratch if necessary.
• The UK government also needs to have knowledge on re-entry vehicle technology to put on the table to 'trade' in the US-UK nuclear 'special relationship'.

Efforts to bring the civil research and development sector in to military technology development programmes are virtually no different from the Chinese government's 'military-civil fusion' strategy, which has been heavily criticised by the US and NATO.  The 'dual use' nature of the space sector, and its historical roots in weaponry developed by the Nazis in World War II, mean it is particularly prone to co-option in military technology programmes.