“The
United Kingdom's nuclear weapons Trident program has provoked a
lively debate ahead of the British general election, UK journalist
Jake Wallis Simons remarked, pointing to the astonishing fact that
'the UK does not even own its Trident [nuclear] missiles, but rather
leases them from the United States.' Indeed, although Trident is
presented as 'a purely domestic matter,' the point is that British
nuclear weapons as well as sophisticated Trident technology are
provided directly by Washington or manufactured in accordance with
American designs. Furthermore, Britain's nuclear sites are controlled
by the US companies Lockheed Martin and Halliburton.”
“While
the British government insists that the UK's Trident submarines are
'operationally independent,' since they are taking commands only from
the British Prime Minister, the UK's nuclear independence looks
rather illusory. 'As a policy statement, it's ludicrous to say that
the US can effectively donate a nuclear program to the UK but have no
influence on how it is used,' Ted Seay, senior policy consultant at
the London-based British American Security Information Council
(BASIC) emphasized, as quoted by the journalist.”
“The
journalist also cited the report released by Parliament's Select
Committee on Defense in 2006, as stating that the United States if
displeased could 'cut off the technical support' for the UK's Trident
program. Moreover, according to the report, the United States is
theoretically able to deny access to GPS, weather and gravitational
data, preventing the UK's Trident system from launching an attack
without Washington's approval. It begs the question what would happen
if US-British relations suddenly deteriorated, the journalist noted.
However, British policy-makers avoid shedding light on the UK's
dependence on the United States, and dismiss the possibility of
breaking off relations between London and Washington as nonsense.”
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