Victory
25-03-06, 12:03
UK's nuclear deterrent, a myth
London, March 25 - Britain is not a true nuclear power that can make their own nuclear weapons but are "mere clients of the US," according to defence analyst Dan Plesch.
"The independent British nuclear deterrent is a myth - whatever else it may be, it is not independent," said the research associate of the Center for International Studies and Diplomacy of London's School of Oriental and African Studies.
At a time when the UK is debating whether to upgrade its trident nuclear system, he said the reality "renders meaningless the government's suggestion that it is time to renew `our' nuclear arsenal."
In an article for the new statesman, Plesch said that supporters of Britain's having a new generation of its own bombs the decades was "nonsense."
"Declassified national security directives uncovered in the archives of Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George Bush Sr leave no doubt about this dependency," he said.
The defence analyst referred to documents obtained by the natural resources defence council in the US showing that "for 45 years the UK has been given blueprints of many US weapons to help build bombs for royal navy missile submarines and raf bombers."
"For decades, too, all British nuclear testing was done in the US, and access to the Nevada test site is still essential to the UK program," he said.
Britain's factory at Aldermaston in west of London that makes the bombs was said to use US equipment and was actually co-managed by the Lockheed Martin Corporation of Bethesda, Maryland.
Even the submarine maintenance base in Plymouth, on the south-coast of England, "is largely the property of Dick Cheney's old firm, Halliburton."
As for whether Britain could fire a trident missile if the US objected, Plesch said the prime minister would be "trying to find a radio that was not jammed, hoping that none of the software had a worm and that the US navy wouldn't shoot the missiles down."
He further suggested that if Britain had not joined the invasion of Iraq, then UK's mutual defence agreement with the US may not have been renewed for another 10 years in 2004.
London, March 25 - Britain is not a true nuclear power that can make their own nuclear weapons but are "mere clients of the US," according to defence analyst Dan Plesch.
"The independent British nuclear deterrent is a myth - whatever else it may be, it is not independent," said the research associate of the Center for International Studies and Diplomacy of London's School of Oriental and African Studies.
At a time when the UK is debating whether to upgrade its trident nuclear system, he said the reality "renders meaningless the government's suggestion that it is time to renew `our' nuclear arsenal."
In an article for the new statesman, Plesch said that supporters of Britain's having a new generation of its own bombs the decades was "nonsense."
"Declassified national security directives uncovered in the archives of Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George Bush Sr leave no doubt about this dependency," he said.
The defence analyst referred to documents obtained by the natural resources defence council in the US showing that "for 45 years the UK has been given blueprints of many US weapons to help build bombs for royal navy missile submarines and raf bombers."
"For decades, too, all British nuclear testing was done in the US, and access to the Nevada test site is still essential to the UK program," he said.
Britain's factory at Aldermaston in west of London that makes the bombs was said to use US equipment and was actually co-managed by the Lockheed Martin Corporation of Bethesda, Maryland.
Even the submarine maintenance base in Plymouth, on the south-coast of England, "is largely the property of Dick Cheney's old firm, Halliburton."
As for whether Britain could fire a trident missile if the US objected, Plesch said the prime minister would be "trying to find a radio that was not jammed, hoping that none of the software had a worm and that the US navy wouldn't shoot the missiles down."
He further suggested that if Britain had not joined the invasion of Iraq, then UK's mutual defence agreement with the US may not have been renewed for another 10 years in 2004.