ABSTRACT
Once the UK had completed its own series of atmospheric tests in the autumn of 1958, which turned out to be the last ever conducted by the UK, and US nuclear data started to flow under the 1958 Agreement, the next issue facing the weapons programme was translating art into article: the arcane art of weaponisation. In August and September 1958 we see for the first time some concerns that, notwithstanding the imminent suspension of atmospheric tests, the UK should still be able to conduct minor trials. Fortunately for the UK the absence of any prospect of imminent success in Geneva and the Soviet resumption of atmospheric testing meant that it did not have to face painful defence and diplomatic decisions. The reduced warhead programme agreed by the Cabinet Defence Committee in 1962 also removed any immediate need for new underground nuclear tests directly associated with particular warheads for particular delivery systems.
