United Kingdom · Question · Written question
UIN 115408
Nuclear Weapons: Testing
Introduced
24 February 2026
Last action
3 March 2026 · Answer
Status
Answered
Sponsors
—
Subjects
Discovery layer
Source updated
3 March 2026
Summary
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the recent declassification of the Merlin database and file reference ES 38/ZGWGV, whether service personnel took part in a mission to sample the Soviet nuclear weapon known as Tsar Bomba.
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Timeline
24 February 2026
Written question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the recent declassification of the Merlin database and file reference ES 38/ZGWGV, whether service personnel took part in a mission to sample the Soviet nuclear weapon known as Tsar Bomba.
Source: Commons
3 March 2026
Answer
The information in ES38/ZGWGV suggests that Service personnel were involved in at least one sampling sortie after the Tsar Bomba test in October 1961. However, the unit records from this time are now held by The National Archives, and it is not possible t...
Source: Written answer
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- · Ministry of Defence · Answering body
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Sources
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- Official source: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2026-02-24/115408
- Open data entity: https://questions-statements-api.parliament.uk/api/writtenquestions/questions/1884349
- uk · wq-1884349 · source updated 3 March 2026