62. As should now be clear, the Chevaline programme was a very major technical development for the UK to undertake, despite the benefits from the earlier R & D programmes. A complex, lightweight spacecraft was successfully developed by the UK to very demanding requirements laid out in the systems criteria. Whilst there were undoubtedly significant challenges early in the project, post the reorganisation in 1975 the efforts of all concerned, management, technical, government and contractors, UK and US, combined to make the project a success. 63. By the end of the development programme Chevaline could fully achieve the specified performance and effectiveness requirements, albeit always a little range limited by the additional payload mass, when extra operational range would always have been welcomed. 64. Despite the original intention of minimum change, significant modifications to the submarine were required, as well as some vital changes to the original Polaris missile system. 65. The development and proving of Chevaline needed a large number of trials to gain confidence in the hardware functioning correctly, and safely, under all stages of the build, assembly, transport, outload to, and carriage on, the submarine, through the launch sequence to impact to the target. 66. It was a programme that made a major contribution to the defence of the UK and NATO for a period of some 12 years, until it was replaced by Trident D5, carried in the Vanguard class SSBN, and subsequently replaced Polaris A3TK.
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