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Blair may overhaul British nuclear deterrent system
LONDON - British Prime Minister Tony Blair has decided to equip Britain with a new generation of deterrent nuclear weapons, to replace those currently deployed on Trident submarines, The Independent reported on Monday. "The decision (to replace Trident) has been taken in principle very recently," a senior defense source told the daily on condition of anonymity.A new nuclear deterrent would cost some 10 billion pounds (14.4 billion euros, 18.5 billion dollars), the paper said. Blair, who is currently campaigning hard for his Labour Party to win a third consecutive election this Thursday, last week said he not yet decided on a new deterrent. "We have got to retain our nuclear deterrent. That decision is for another time," he told the BBC. "But I believe that is the right thing." The defense source quoted by The Independent said it took an extremely long time to build new nuclear weapons, which is why the decision had to come far in advance of decommissioning the Tridents, expected in 2024. Britain -- which the source said had to build its own bombs since US law forbade the Americans from constructing nuclear weapons for another country -- has four Trident submarines in service. They each have 16 multiple warhead nuclear missiles with a range of 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles). Posted by: Steve White 2005-05-02 |
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