High-ranking officials in the Royal Navy and the MoD are calling into question the future of the Trident nuclear weapons system, according to defence analysts in a new article for The Financial Times.
The Trident spending crisis and delays in the manufacturing of the new submarines are central to official doubts. “Can Dreadnought sink the defence budget? The answer is yes,” said Trevor Taylor, a naval specialist at the Royal United Services Institute.
Richard Scott from Jane’s, a defence magazine, said: “There is an understanding across the MoD and BAE Systems that they have continually failed to meet project milestones on Astute and need to do better.”
Mr Scott said that in private conversations with senior officials in the Royal Navy and the MoD, he now heard “comments about the disproportionate impact the deterrent has on the overall defence budget”.
“Some people are asking, ‘can we really justify this’?”
Paul Ingram, from the British American Security Information Council, told the FT that in 15-20 years, when the new Trident submarines will begin service, the threat of cyber attacks may have evolved to the point that Britain’s nuclear deterrent is vulnerable.
“The technologies Dreadnought will be facing in 15 years, we can only dream of,” Paul Ingram told ministers recently.
CND has continuously highlighted how Trident is bankrupting the MoD and is putting Britain’s real security needs at risk. The government must take heed of these warnings and cancel Trident replacement immediately.