ABSTRACT
Given the success at Grapple Z in August and September 1958 and the resumed collaboration with the Americans, the way was cleared for the UK to become an enthusiastic supporter of a test-ban treaty. Macmillan and Lloyd were certainly in this category; whether those responsible for the UK's nuclear weapons programme in the Ministry of Defence (MOD), Ministry of Supply or Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE) shared this view is another matter. Once the prospect for testing opened up again after the Soviet resumption in September 1961, MOD's nuclear scientists and AWRE were very quick to come forward with a requirement for a new UK design that they wished to test as a matter of priority: a new implosion system known as Super Octopus. Polaris modernisation to counter potential Soviet Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) capabilities meant that the UK needed access to materials, components and effects and warhead tests in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
