Talk:Blue Water (missile)

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Bleak Sales Prospects

Sales prospects were always bleak for Blue Water. Blue Water had no credible role except as a nuclear warhead delivery system. Indeed, there are no records of any non-nuclear payload ever being specified or proposed. The great difficulty the British had was that the West Germans were supplied with large numbers of "dual-key" nuclear warheads for the American weapons they purchased.

Declassified official documents of that period show that any West German Blue Water purchase would require "dual-key" warheads to be supplied by the British, designed for Blue Water. Given that the UK was always short of fissile material for its own needs that was clearly impossible. Although for some time the British naively hoped that the Americans would produce a suitable variant of the Sergeant W-52 warhead adapted for Blue Water, and supply it under the usual "dual-key" arrangements to the UK, West Germany and other NATO allies. That was always a forlorn hope, given that such American largesse would deprive their own missile manufacturers of business.

Other declassified official documents of the period show that sales prospects to the very interested French and Swiss armies similarly foundered on Britain's inability to sell, or supply by other arrangements, the nuclear warheads required for Blue Water. George.Hutchinson (talk) 15:44, 8 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]