1.
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
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The Ministry of Defence is the British government department responsible for implementing the defence policy set by Her Majestys Government and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces. The MoD states that its objectives are to defend the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and its interests and to strengthen international peace. The MoD also manages day-to-day running of the forces, contingency planning. As rearmament became a concern during the 1930s, Stanley Baldwin created the position of Minister for Coordination of Defence. Winston Churchill, on forming his government in 1940, created the office of Minister of Defence to exercise control over the Chiefs of Staff Committee. The post was held by the Prime Minister of the day until Clement Attlees government introduced the Ministry of Defence Act of 1946, the new ministry was headed by a Minister of Defence who possessed a seat in the Cabinet. These departments merged in 1964, the functions of the Ministry of Aviation Supply merged into the Ministry of Defence in 1971. The Ministers in the Ministry of Defence are as follows, The Ministers and Chiefs of the Defence Staff are supported by a number of civilian, scientific, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Defence is the senior civil servant at the MoD. His or her role is to ensure the MoD operates effectively as a department of the government, Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Stephen Lovegrove—commencing April 2016 Defence Equipment & Support CEO - Tony Douglas — commencing 2016 Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Vernon C. He is supported by the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, vice-Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Gordon Messenger, Royal Marines. First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sir Philip Jones, Royal Navy Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Nick Carter, the Surgeon General, represents the Defence Medical Services on the Defence Staff, and is the clinical head of that service. These forces must be capable of representing Britain as lead nation in any coalition operations, the ability, at longer notice, to deploy forces in a large-scale operation while running a concurrent small-scale operation. The MoD has since been regarded as a leader in elaborating the post-Cold War organising concept of defence diplomacy, the UK is establishing air and naval bases in the Persian Gulf, located in the UAE and Bahrain. A presence in Oman is also being considered, the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 included £178 billion investment in new equipment and capabilities. The review set a policy with four primary missions for the Armed Forces, Defend and contribute to the security and resilience of the UK. Contribute to improved understanding of the world through strategic intelligence and the defence network. Reinforce international security and the capacity of our allies, partners. Conduct operations to restore peace and stability, conduct major combat operations if required, including under NATO Article 5
2.
RAF Aldermaston
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Royal Air Force Aldermaston or more simply RAF Aldermaston is a former Royal Air Force station located 8 miles east of Newbury, Berkshire and 9.8 miles southwest of Reading, Berkshire, England. Originally built as an RAF Bomber Command airfield during 1941-1942, Aldermaston was transferred to the United States Army Air Forces in August 1942, placed under the jurisdiction of Eighth Air Force, it was home to several Douglas C-47 Skytrain Troop Carrier Groups. It was transferred to Ninth Air Force in 1943 primarily as a Troop Carrier Command base, returned to RAF Control at the end of 1945, it was used by Technical Training Command before being placed on Care and Maintenance. In 1946, it was transferred to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Aldermaston was initially planned as an RAF Bomber Command airfield, being constructed in 1941-1942. RAF92 Group was programmed to occupy the facility with Vickers Wellington bombers, the facility was constructed as a Class A bomber airfield with three concrete runways. The main was 1, 830m aligned 06/24, with two secondary runways of 1, 280m aligned 11-29 and 17-35. The airfield had a perimeter track with both the pan and loop-type aircraft hardstands for aircraft parking. The technical site was on the side of the airfield, consisting of various administrative buildings, maintenance shops. However, to support the United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force in August 1942, the USAAF assigned station No.467 to the facility. It is a country house which was purchased from the Keyser family by the British Government at the outbreak of World War II. Taken over by the USAAF, it became the headquarters of the XIX Tactical Air Command and it was given the designation of AAF-476. 60th Troop Carrier Group Due to Aldermastons location in Berkshire, Eighth Air Force decided to use the base to station as a C-47 Troop Carrier base. It flew its only combat mission on 8 November 1942 when it transported airborne paratroopers from Aldermaston, with the successful operation, the group moved to Relizane Airfield, Algeria on 8 November 1942. There, it was transferred to the new Twelfth Air Force where it continued operations as part of the Mediterranean Theater of Operations until the end of the war. 107th Observation Squadron With the 60ths move to North Africa, the 107th Reconnaissance Squadron and it flew a mixture of light observation L-4 Grasshopper single engine and Douglas A-20 Havoc two-engine reconnaissance aircraft. It also had several Supermarine Spitfires, the squadron remained only until 8 January 1943 when it was moved back to Membury. 315th Troop Carrier Group Replacing the 60th TCG was the 315th Troop Carrier Group, on 25 May 1943, twenty-one of the 315ths aircraft left for Algeria to support combat operations in North Africa. Although not participating in the phase of the invasions of Sicily and Italy
3.
Government of the United Kingdom
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Her Majestys Government, commonly referred to as the UK government or British government, is the central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The government is led by the Prime Minister, who all the remaining ministers. The prime minister and the other most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision-making committee, the government ministers all sit in Parliament, and are accountable to it. After an election, the monarch selects as prime minister the leader of the party most likely to command a majority of MPs in the House of Commons. Under the uncodified British constitution, executive authority lies with the monarch, although this authority is exercised only by, or on the advice of, the prime minister, the Cabinet members advise the monarch as members of the Privy Council. They also exercise power directly as leaders of the Government Departments, the current prime minister is Theresa May, who took office on 13 July 2016. She is the leader of the Conservative Party, which won a majority of seats in the House of Commons in the election on 7 May 2015. Prior to this, Cameron and the Conservatives led a government from 2010 to 2015 with the Liberal Democrats. A key principle of the British Constitution is that the government is responsible to Parliament, Britain is a constitutional monarchy in which the reigning monarch does not make any open political decisions. All political decisions are taken by the government and Parliament and this constitutional state of affairs is the result of a long history of constraining and reducing the political power of the monarch, beginning with the Magna Carta in 1215. Parliament is split into two houses, the House of Lords and the House of Commons, the House of Commons is the lower house and is the more powerful. The House of Lords is the house and although it can vote to amend proposed laws. Parliamentary time is essential for bills to be passed into law, Ministers of the Crown are responsible to the House in which they sit, they make statements in that House and take questions from members of that House. For most senior ministers this is usually the elected House of Commons rather than the House of Lords, since the start of Edward VIIs reign, in 1901, the prime minister has always been an elected member of Parliament and therefore directly accountable to the House of Commons. Under the British system the government is required by convention and for reasons to maintain the confidence of the House of Commons. It requires the support of the House of Commons for the maintenance of supply, by convention if a government loses the confidence of the House of Commons it must either resign or a General Election is held. The support of the Lords, while useful to the government in getting its legislation passed without delay, is not vital, a government is not required to resign even if it loses the confidence of the Lords and is defeated in key votes in that House. The House of Commons is thus the Responsible house, the prime minister is held to account during Prime Ministers Question Time which provides an opportunity for MPs from all parties to question the PM on any subject
4.
Nuclear weapon
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A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from small amounts of matter. The first test of a bomb released the same amount of energy as approximately 20,000 tons of TNT. The first thermonuclear bomb test released the same amount of energy as approximately 10 million tons of TNT, a thermonuclear weapon weighing little more than 2,400 pounds can produce an explosive force comparable to the detonation of more than 1.2 million tons of TNT. A nuclear device no larger than traditional bombs can devastate a city by blast, fire. Nuclear weapons are considered weapons of destruction, and their use. Nuclear weapons have been used twice in nuclear warfare, both times by the United States against Japan near the end of World War II, the bombings resulted in the deaths of approximately 200,000 civilians and military personnel from acute injuries sustained from the explosions. The ethics of the bombings and their role in Japans surrender remain the subject of scholarly, since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear weapons have been detonated on over two thousand occasions for the purposes of testing and demonstration. Only a few nations possess such weapons or are suspected of seeking them, israel is also believed to possess nuclear weapons, though in a policy of deliberate ambiguity, it does not acknowledge having them. Germany, Italy, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands are nuclear weapons sharing states, south Africa is the only country to have independently developed and then renounced and dismantled its nuclear weapons. Modernisation of weapons continues to occur, all existing nuclear weapons derive some of their explosive energy from nuclear fission reactions. Weapons whose explosive output is exclusively from fission reactions are commonly referred to as bombs or atom bombs. This has long noted as something of a misnomer, as their energy comes from the nucleus of the atom. The latter approach is considered more sophisticated than the former and only the approach can be used if the fissile material is plutonium. A major challenge in all nuclear weapon designs is to ensure that a significant fraction of the fuel is consumed before the weapon destroys itself. The amount of energy released by fission bombs can range from the equivalent of just under a ton to upwards of 500,000 tons of TNT, all fission reactions necessarily generate fission products, the radioactive remains of the atomic nuclei split by the fission reactions. Many fission products are highly radioactive or moderately radioactive. Fission products are the radioactive component of nuclear fallout
5.
Nuclear weapons and the United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom was the third country to test an independently developed nuclear weapon, in October 1952. It is one of the five nuclear-weapon states under the NPT, since the 1958 US–UK Mutual Defence Agreement, the United States and the United Kingdom have cooperated extensively on nuclear security matters. The special relationship between the two countries has involved the exchange of classified data and materials such as plutonium. The UK retains a stockpile of 215 thermonuclear warheads, of which 120 are operational as of 2016, since 1998, the Trident nuclear programme has been the only operational nuclear weapons system in British service. The delivery system consists of four Vanguard class submarines based at HMNB Clyde in Scotland, each submarine is armed with up to 16 Trident II missiles, each carrying warheads in up to eight MIRV re-entry vehicles. With at least one submarine always on patrol, the Vanguards perform a strategic role and are also believed to have a sub-strategic capability. The UK has not run a programme to develop an independent delivery system since the cancellation of the Blue Streak in 1960, instead it has purchased US delivery systems for UK use, fitting them with warheads designed and manufactured by the UKs Atomic Weapons Establishment and its predecessor. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has estimated the figure as about 170, at the same time, the UK government indicated that warheads required to provide a necessary processing margin and for technical surveillance purposes were not included in the fewer than 200 figure. These surveillance rounds are used to monitor deterioration in the many components of the warhead. The SIPRI figures correspond accurately with the announcements and are likely to be the most accurate. The Natural Resources Defense Council speculates that a figure of 200 is accurate to within a few tens, in 2008 the National Audit Office stated that the UK stockpile was of fewer than 160 operationally available nuclear warheads. Until the 1990s the UK deployed a variety of nuclear weapons around the world, such as V bombers in Singapore in the 1960s, aircraft on Cyprus. Until August 1998, the UK retained the WE.177 nuclear weapon manufactured in the mid-1960s to late 1970s, in air-dropped free-fall bomb and its withdrawal left the four Vanguard class submarines, which replaced the Polaris ones in the early 1990s, as Britains only nuclear weapons platform. It has been estimated by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists that the United Kingdom has built around 1,200 warheads since the first Hurricane device of 1952, at its peak, these numbered 327 for the British Army of the Rhine in Germany alone. The United Kingdom tested its first nuclear weapons in Australia during the 1950s, on the Montebello Islands, the first detonation, codenamed Operation Hurricane, occurred on 3 October 1952, in a shallow bay on Trimouille Island. Two further tests were held on the Montebello Islands during 1956, the second of these, codenamed G2, included the largest nuclear explosion in Australia, with a yield of 98 kilotons. Seven further nuclear tests were conducted on the Australian mainland between 1955 and 1963, within the Woomera Prohibited Area, at Emu Field and Maralinga in South Australia, the first British hydrogen bombs were tested during Operation Grapple at Malden Island and Christmas Island in the Central Pacific Ocean. The operation consisted of nine tests in the period 1957–1959, ultimately proving that the UK had developed thermonuclear weapons, different sources give the total number of test explosions that the UK has conducted as either 44 or 45
6.
Burghfield
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Burghfield /ˈbɜːr. fiːld/ is a village and large civil parish in West Berkshire, England, with a boundary with Reading. Burghfield can trace its history back to before the Domesday book and they are also a habitat for migrating geese, water fowl and other wildlife. A few higher pits/quarries in this area have been drained, clay-lined and used as landfill, Burghfield has many amenities — the majority are sports clubs and facilities, including a leisure centre, educational or religious. The boundaries of ancient burhs can often still be traced to modern urban borough limits, some were based on pre-existing Roman structures, some newly built, though some may have been built later. Athelstan granted these burhs the right to mint coinage, and in the tenth and eleventh centuries the rule was that no coin was to be struck outside a burh. A 10th-century document called the Burghal Hidage cites 30 burhs in Wessex, the Old English word was related to the verb beorgan, meaning to keep, save, make secure. A place, probably in Berkshire, appearing as Yerburghfeld is seen in 1381 and it may refer to Burghfield, or perhaps, Arborfield Burghfield is about 4 miles southwest of Reading. The area is large and of varying density. In 1923 the parish of Burghfield had 4,309 acres of land, of which 1,660 acres were arable,1,940 acres permanent pasture and 163 acres woods and plantations. The land lies low in the valley of the Kennet, at an altitude of a little over 100 feet above the ordnance datum. The main settlements of Burghfield parish lie along Burghfield Road, the road out of Reading. The south-eastern part of Burghfield Common is known as Great Auclum, a corner of north-western Burghfield Common is actually in Sulhamstead parish. In the north of the parish, the Kennet River valley, is surrounded by a number of man made lakes, marshland and willow scrub, with old water meadows and Osier beds to the north of the river. Further south, between the M4 motorway and Burghfield Village the ground is flat, and consists of farmland and pastureland with occasional small stands of deciduous woodland. The plateau gravels support grassland, deciduous woodland and Scots pine, the grasslands within the Parish are grazed by a wide variety of cattle, sheep and horses. The parish is served by a number of footpaths and bridleways across the fields and these paths and bridleways can be enjoyed by walkers and nature lovers, and are an important resource for the Parish. There are a number of paths and cut-throughs allowing pedestrians to move freely around the Parish. The parish lies in an area of clay, gravel and sand which was laid down in shallow, marine, the oldest sediments comprise sands deposited in a shallow sea overlain by reddish-brown Reading Formation clays
7.
RNAD Coulport
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Coulport redirects here, for the neighbouring village, see Coulport. The base, near the village of Coulport, has up to 16 reinforced concrete built into the hillside on the eastern shore of Loch Long. It is the last depot in Britain to retain the RNAD designation, the depot was established during the Cold War as the storage and loading facility for Polaris nuclear weapons. Today, Coulport is mainly used for handling Trident warheads and it also stores conventional weapons, e. g. the Spearfish torpedo. Two docks are located on the shoreline at the foot of the hill, there, weapons are loaded onto Vanguard nuclear submarines before they go on patrol and unloaded before they return to base at nearby Faslane. An older jetty is known as the Polaris Jetty, while the newer, Coulport had originally been best known as a summer holiday retreat for wealthy Glaswegians, with its most notable feature being Kibble Palace, now relocated to the Glasgow Botanic Gardens. It is the site of the farm of Duchlage, the Nassau Agreement was signed in December 1962, and the Polaris Sales Agreement was signed in April 1963. Initial construction took place between 1963, when Faslane was chosen as the new Polaris base, and 1968, when the first Polaris boat began its patrol, Coulport, on the opposite peninsula, met both of these requirements. The Trident Works Programme at Coulport and Faslane, co-ordinated by the Property Services Agency, planning work at Coulport began in 1982, and the estimated final cost for the entire programme, at 1994 prices, was approximately £1.9 billion. This made it the second most expensive procurement project in the UK after the Channel Tunnel project. However, since the Scottish electorate voted against independence, the area along with the rest of Scotland remained UK territory and so the bases, and the equipment housed there, were unaffected. A covered floating dry dock for the Trident submarines was built at Hunterston in Ayrshire and this Explosive Handling Jetty is one of the worlds largest floating concrete structures. The missiles are not owned by the UK, which has mingled asset ownership rights to 58 missiles from a pool shared with the US Navy. The Trident warheads are designed and manufactured by the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston, Berkshire, England, exercise Bowline is the annual test of the emergency response routines to a nuclear weapon accident at Coulport. It is conducted by the Office for Nuclear Regulation, in 2011 the test failed as a number of command and control aspects of the exercise were not considered to have been adequately demonstrated. The exercise was repeated later in the year and recorded a marked improvement, the main logistical movement of nuclear weapons in the United Kingdom is between the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Berkshire and RNAD Coulport in Argyll, in both directions. Because the warheads need to be refurbished, batches are shuttled by road convoy several times a year. Convoys use staging posts and crew change locations during this journey, the Truck Cargo Heavy Duty carriers containing the weapons are escorted in a convoy of MoD vehicles commanded by a Ministry of Defence Police Chief Inspector
8.
Public limited company
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A public limited company is a type of public company under the United Kingdom company law, some Commonwealth jurisdictions, and the Republic of Ireland. It is a liability company whose shares may be freely sold and traded to the public, with a minimum share capital of £50,000. Similar companies in the United States are called publicly traded companies, public limited companies will also have a separate legal identity. A PLC can be either an unlisted or listed company on the stock exchanges, in the United Kingdom, a public limited company usually must include the words public limited company or the abbreviation PLC or plc at the end and as part of the legal company name. Welsh companies may choose to end their names with ccc. However, some public limited companies incorporated under special legislation are exempted from bearing any of the identifying suffixes. The term public limited company and the PLC/plc suffix were introduced in 1981, prior to this, all limited companies bore the suffix Limited, which is still used by private limited companies. When a new company incorporates in England and Wales or in Scotland, it must register with Companies House, Formation of a public limited company requires a minimum of one director and one secretary. In England and Wales and in Scotland, the male/female is under 16 years old, some people who are not British citizens are restricted as to what work they may do while in the UK, which may exclude them from being a director. The members must agree to some, or all, of the shares when the company is registered. The memorandum of association must show the names of the people who have agreed to take shares and these people are called the subscribers. There is a share capital for public limited companies, Before it can start business. A quarter of them, £12,500, must be paid up, each allotted share must be paid up to at least one quarter of its nominal value together with the whole of any premium. A company can increase its share capital by passing an ordinary resolution. A copy of the resolution – and notice of the increase on Form 123 – must reach Companies House within 15 days of being passed, no fee is payable to Companies House. A company can decrease its authorised share capital by passing a resolution to cancel shares which have not been taken or agreed to be taken by any person. Notice of the cancellation, on Form 122, must reach Companies House within one month, no fee is payable to Companies House. A company may have as different types of shares as it wishes
9.
Jacobs Engineering Group
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Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. is an international technical professional services firm. Jacobs Engineering was founded in 1947 by Joseph J. Jacobs, as of 2016 the Chairman and CEO is Steven J. Demetriou. The previous President and CEO was Craig L. Martin from 2006 until 2014, the company is publicly traded as a Fortune 500 company, and as of October 2016 had 50,000 employees globally. Jacobs has more than 250 offices in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Australia, Africa, the company is structured around four lines of business, Aerospace & Technology, Buildings & Infrastructure, Industrial, and Petroleum & Chemicals. In October 2016, the company moved its headquarters from California to Dallas, Texas, list of United States companies Top 100 Contractors of the U. S. federal government Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc
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