nuclear-news

Delays in Trident renewal put our deterrent in peril

 In 2016 the House of Commons voted overwhelmingly in favour of renewing
the UK’s nuclear deterrent. Then hardly a second thought was given to
undertaking the upgrade programme without the full involvement of the US
military.

Ever since the British government first opted to introduce the
Continuous at Sea Deterrent (CASD) model to deliver our nuclear weapons
capability – replacing the Royal Air Force’s airborne Vulcan system –
it has been an article of faith that the project should be a joint US-UK
undertaking.

The tumult caused by US President Donald Trump’s return to
the White House has inevitably raised concerns both about the wisdom of
relying so heavily on US support for our own nuclear deterrent, especially
in the wake of Trump’s less-than-friendly treatment of Ukrainian
president Volodymyr Zelensky when he visited the White House last week. If
the leader of the free world can treat someone like Zelensky, who is
supposed to be one of Washington’s key allies, with such studied
contempt, then why not other allies, such as the UK?

 Telegraph 5th March 2025
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03/05/delays-in-trident-renewal-put-our-deterrent-in-peril/

March 8, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics international, UK, weapons and war