Blue Steel was Britain's first service nuclear missile; launched from a V bomber, it was in effect an unmanned supersonic aircraft in its own right, capable of speeds above Mach 2 at an altitude of 80,000 feet. Development had begun as early as 1954 by A.V. Roe and Co., who set up a Weapon Research Department as a private venture. Like Yellow Sun Mk. 2, Blue Steel was fitted with the Red Snow megaton warhead and was in service from 1962 to 1969.
