2009-09-24 - PM BROWNS DECISION TO CONSIDER REDUCING THE UKSTRIDENT NUCLEAR DETERRENT. SUBJECT: PM BROWN’S DECISION TO CONSIDER REDUCING THE UK’S Classified By: Political Counselor Robin Quinville for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 1. (S/NF) Summary. Prime Minister Brown’s September 23 announcement at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) that the UK is prepared to consider reducing from four to three the number of its nuclear submarines caught many in HMG by surprise. 2. 3. Timing is Everything 4. 5. Effective nuclear deterrent.†Freer criticized media for exaggerating the significance of Brown’s announcement, opining that it was “not really a major disarmament announcement,†but rather a reaffirmation of HMG’s commitment to nuclear disarmament, albeit not unilaterally. P5 Reassurances 6. 7. “No Daylight†8.
Money Matters 9. 10. Conservatives have promised to undertake if they win next year’s general election. 11. Comment: A Popular Decision 12. 2009-07-27 - (SBU) DOUBTS -- AND REASSURANCES -- ABOUTREPLACING BRITAINS TRIDENT NUCLEAR DETERRENT. Dissuasion nucléaire : les petits pas franco-bri. Par TEUTATES! After further review, the new joint UK-France nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship effort is little less effing baffling than before. We now have the full text of the Treaty between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the French Republic relating to Joint Radiographic/Hydrodynamics Facilities, and the details are much more clear. And, as it turns out, the details have something to do with the French comic book character, Asterix. First, the lawyer stuff.
Before we get to the details in the treaty text, I should note that the United States and France, in 1996, updated their defense cooperation agreement to permit much more detailed sharing of stockpile stewardship information. Here is how Jeff Smith described the new agreement the Washington Post in 1996: It was pretty obvious to everyone at the time that opened the door for France to use NIF, DARHT and other facilities, as well as freeing the UK to share more data with France. By TEUTATES! I digress. 1. 2. UK-France Nuclear Weapons Coop. Vers une collaboration franco-britannique sur les têtes nucléaires. Le Financial Times annonce ce matin que le Royaume-Uni et la France discutent d'une coopération autour de la maintenance des têtes nucléaires. Cette coopération pourrait porter sur le devenir des 160 têtes nucléaires britanniques qui bénéficieraient de la technologie française développée par le CEA.
Depuis l'interdiction des essais nucléaires, les armes ne peuvent plus être testées et la France a choisi, comme les Etats-Unis, d'investir dans un très ambitieux programme de simulation. Des installations, notamment le laser mégajoule du Cesta (Gironde), sont en cours d'achèvement. Lors du sommet franco-britannique, qui doit se tenir le 2 novembre à Londres, Nicolas Sarkozy pourrait ainsi proposer à David Cameron d'ouvir ces installations aux experts anglais, pour que ceux-ci puissent s'assurer du bon vieillissement de leurs armes, voire de leur renouvelement.
Global Security Newswire - French, U.K. Leaders to Discuss Sharing Nuclear Patrols. PrintShareEmailTwitterFacebookLinkedIn The feasibility of combining nuclear-armed submarine patrol responsibilities between the United Kingdom and France is expected to be discussed by the two nations' leaders at a November meeting in London, the London Independent reported yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 13).
Though French officials have spoken positively in the past about joining forces with the British to maintain a strategic policy of continuous-at-sea-deterrence, the idea had not gained ground in London. However, looming military spending reductions in both European powers and the prospect of delaying or trimming a $30 billion plan to modernize the British nuclear submarine fleet has revived the idea (see GSN, Sept. 30).
Each nuclear power keeps at least one of its four nuclear-capable submarines deployed at all times. That policy would lessen the number of submarines both nations would need to maintain "credible" strategic security, according to the Independent. Global Security Newswire - France Could Help Maintain British Warheads. PrintShareEmailTwitterFacebookLinkedIn France and the United Kingdom have scrapped a proposal to combine their strategic submarine patrol responsibilities, but the sides are completing a deal that would involve maintenance of British nuclear warheads at a French atomic laboratory, the Financial Times yesterday quoted officials in both governments as saying (see GSN, Oct. 1).
The arrangement would enable the French Atomic Energy Commission, which through computer simulations verifies the reliability of France's roughly 300 warheads, to receive payment for similar work on the United Kingdom's 160-warhead stockpile. The deal would reduce defense expenditures for the two governments and mark a dramatic expansion in military ties between the sides, which today do not collaborate on any nuclear weapons work, according to the Times. The United Kingdom has sought U.S. input on the proposal, said one source with knowledge of the talks. "I will take no risks with Britain’s security," Cameron said.