UK nuclear weapons plan unveiled

4 December 2006

Tony Blair has told MPs it would be "unwise and dangerous" for the UK to give up its nuclear weapons.

The prime minister outlined plans to spend up to £20bn on a new generation of submarines for Trident missiles.

He said submarine numbers may be cut from four to three, while the number of nuclear warheads would be cut by 20%.

Mr Blair said although the Cold War had ended the UK needed nuclear weapons as no-one could be sure another nuclear threat would not emerge in the future.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6205174.stm

Nine months at most and he's gone. It appears he's trying to ensure his views hold sway even after he's gone.

Oh, come on! That is a token presence. The idea is having enough so that an enemy cannot be sure of sinking them all. What's the point of having so few that the collective commanders cannot play bridge together without having a junior officer sit in to make four?

don't have anything better to spend all that money on.

Tony wants to make sure he has a lucrative job lined up when he leaves 10 Downing Street.

so that a huge strike against the country itself always leaves one sub capable of retaliation. The needs 3 - one at sea, one in port, and one (potentially) in a long-term refit. The 4th was in case of screw up (highly likely with British government work). The only 'enemy' capable of sinking these subs was the Soviet Union. It's assumed that if Russia gets that aggressive, the USA will launch a strike against them anyway.

In practice, yes, it's more a token - "Britain still has the ability to lay waste to a portion of the planet, so we're still important". I think international leaders really do think they lose face at conferences if they give up weapons.

and it would take 2 days to ready them.

But watch out for Saddam he can deploy in 45 mins!