{"id":256068,"date":"2024-03-04T12:00:34","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T12:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=256068"},"modified":"2024-03-04T06:41:41","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T06:41:41","slug":"uk-trident-missile-failure-exposes-folly-of-nuclear-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/03\/uk-trident-missile-failure-exposes-folly-of-nuclear-weapons\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Trident Missile Failure Exposes Folly of Nuclear Weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

A Trident missile spins out of control.\u00a0 (Photo: U.S. National Archives)<\/p><\/div>\n

Britain\u2019s nuclear arsenal has failed two tests in a row. Why must we still pay for these extortionate weapons of mass destruction?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

26 Feb 2024 <\/em>– Three years ago, Boris Johnson\u2019s government announced a significant gear shift in nuclear weapons policy.<\/p>\n

Trashing David Cameron\u2019s decision to reduce<\/a> the nuclear arsenal to 180 warheads, he instead unveiled an increase to 260.<\/p>\n

At odds with the UK \u2013 and global \u2013 trend of gradual reductions for over three decades, the decision received widespread international condemnation.<\/p>\n

The news was published in the government\u2019s integrated review<\/p>\n

, an extensive document<\/a> that aimed to portray a post-Brexit \u2018Global Britain\u2019 on the offensive, \u2018projecting force\u2019 globally.<\/p>\n

It made much of Britain being western Europe\u2019s most heavily armed nation, of its leadership role in NATO, and its deployment of forces worldwide.<\/p>\n

Britain, it claimed, was ready to deter \u2013 and defeat adversaries if necessary.<\/p>\n

Trident test failure<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There is much in the document that now just seems pathetically hubristic.<\/p>\n

Repeated references to the UK\u2019s \u2018credible nuclear deterrent\u2019, seem particularly delusional.<\/p>\n

Last month, the Royal Navy failed to test fire a Trident missile, which is the only delivery system for Britain\u2019s nuclear warheads. It was the second such failure in a row.<\/p>\n

The previous test took place in 2016. Launched from the submarine HMS Victorious<\/em>, a malfunction in the system caused the missile to spin out of control.<\/p>\n

Instead of flying over the Atlantic, the missile flew over the US and later self-destructed.<\/p>\n

This time, the missile was supposed to travel 6,000 kilometres before landing in the Atlantic between Africa and Brazil, but it failed to launch properly from the submarine HMS Vanguard<\/em> and actually crashed into the sea just yards away.<\/p>\n

Defence secretary Grant Shapps, who was onboard, was keen to assert that the failure was an \u201canomaly\u201d with no implications for the reliability of the wider systems and stockpiles.<\/p>\n

Seeming sillier by the minute, he went on to claim that Trident \u201cremains the most reliable weapons system in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Catalogue of failures<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Funny though this would be if it wasn\u2019t so deadly serious, the failed launch is just the tip of the iceberg of a whole catalogue of failures.<\/p>\n

Delays, cost overruns and dangerous incompetence give the lie to the grandiose claims made by the British government about its vastly expensive weapons of mass destruction.<\/p>\n

There is a backstory to this too. The submarine that launched the missile, HMS Vanguard<\/em>, was required to undertake the test because it had just come out of a \u201cdeep maintenance period\u201d.<\/p>\n

Vanguard<\/em> was sent to the Navy\u2019s Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth in 2015 for a major refit, scheduled to take three years.<\/p>\n

However, delays and malfunctions meant the refit actually lasted seven years. Costs ballooned from under \u00a3300 million to over \u00a3500 million.<\/p>\n

Delays included the discovery that superglue was used by workers to attach broken bolts to the submarine\u2019s nuclear reactor.<\/p>\n

Apparently the Trident test failure won\u2019t prevent Vanguard<\/em> from returning to active service.<\/p>\n

Fleet-wide issues<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Other serious concerns have emerged about the fleet of four Vanguard-class submarines that carry Britain\u2019s nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n

Recently, only two of the submarines have been operational.<\/p>\n

While Vanguard<\/em> was out of action in Devonport, HMS Victorious<\/em> suffered a fire onboard in 2022.<\/p>\n

A blaze broke out in an electrical component in one of the submarine\u2019s systems and it had to surface in the North Atlantic and return to port in Faslane.<\/p>\n

It is now in dry dock at Devonport for repair and maintenance.<\/p>\n

Last November, a faulty depth gauge on one of the subs resulted in the vessel continuing to dive.<\/p>\n

It almost approached crush depth before submariners noticed the equipment had malfunctioned and corrected course, narrowly averting disaster.<\/p>\n

In order to maintain the co-called \u201ccontinuous at-sea deterrent\u201d, with one submarine out on patrol at all times, these subs \u2013 and their crews \u2013 have been forced to undergo longer and longer missions.<\/p>\n

Last September, one was spotted returning to port covered in barnacles and slime after a record six month patrol.<\/p>\n

In 2022 it was reported that the lack of available Vanguard-class submarines meant crews were increasingly serving tours in excess of 150 days.<\/p>\n

By comparison, the average patrol on the previous generation of nuclear vessels rarely exceeded 60-70 days.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Jobs for the boys<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In addition to concerns about the state of the vessels, there have also been concerns about the impact these extended tours have on crew discipline, morale, and psychological well being.<\/p>\n

The Royal Navy has already opened an investigation into claims by female submariners working on Vanguard-class subs of sexual abuse and bullying by male colleagues and senior officers.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, questions have also been raised about Babcock, the arms company responsible for running the Devonport dockyard and maintaining the Vanguard fleet.<\/p>\n

Ministry of Defence data seen<\/a> by The i<\/em> newspaper last November found that \u201csuppliers tasked with providing parts and replacement equipment to the Royal Navy recently missed their targets, with the Government rating their performance as inadequate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet in the 12 months to March 2023, Babcock made \u00a3178 million in profit from MoD contracts.<\/p>\n

The truth is, nuclear weapons are big business for a number of companies.<\/p>\n

Over one trillion US dollars will be spent globally over the next ten years, modernising and developing the existing nine state arsenals.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s around a hundred billion a year, of which over half is spent by the US.<\/p>\n

The companies that make the most out of nuclear weapons are Boeing, Honeywell International and Northrop Grumman.<\/p>\n

Here in Britain, the companies with the most significant involvement are BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and Serco.<\/p>\n

All these companies, together with the many banks, insurance companies, pension funds and asset managers that invest in them, have a vested interest in high nuclear weapons budgets.<\/p>\n

That money comes from the government. In other words, it comes from us \u2013 the tax payers.<\/p>\n

Nuclear weapons have got to go: for all the reasons we know, nuclear war, annihilation and the end times.<\/p>\n

But also because they are a shocking, useless waste of our money, driven by vanity and stupidity. We need to spend the money on something else.<\/p>\n

_______________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Kate Hudson is General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the UK.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original – declassifieduk.org<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

26 Feb 2024 – Britain\u2019s nuclear arsenal has failed two tests in a row. Why must we still pay for these extortionate weapons of mass destruction? Last month, the Royal Navy failed to test fire a Trident missile, the only delivery system for Britain\u2019s nuclear warheads. A malfunction in the system caused the missile to spin out of control. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":256070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[853,1361,450,639,2854,875],"class_list":["post-256068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-weapons-of-mass-destruction","tag-atomic-weapons","tag-nuclear-disaster","tag-nuclear-weapons","tag-uk","tag-weapons-of-mass-destruction","tag-wmd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256068"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256499,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256068\/revisions\/256499"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}