UK refuses to say if US helps to test its nuclear missiles
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, Jan 11, IRNA
UK Nuclear Missiles-US Tests
Defence Secretary Des Browne has declined to say whether simulations and experiments at the strategic US Sandia laboratories in New Mexico were carried out in support of the UK's American-made Trident missile system.
Under the 1958 UK/US Mutual Defence Agreement, the UK's Defence Ministry and Atomic Weapons Establishment maintain "collaborative contact with Sandia National Laboratories, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, and the Los Alamos National Laboratories," Browne said.
In a written parliament reply published Thursday, he told MPs that this contact "may include the placement of specific work packages with the US facilities by or on behalf of HMG (Her Majesty's Government)." "Principally (this) relates to the stockpile stewardship programs that ensure the continued safety and reliability of the UK's nuclear weapons stockpile," the minister said.
But in response to specific US support, he was withholding further details of such activities saying "their release would, or would be likely to, prejudice national security."
When outlining plans last month to buy on a new generation of submarines for Trident missiles, Prime Minister Tony Blair said the UK would also join the US programme to extend their life until 2042 and would then "work with" the US on successor missiles.
According to Greenpeace, there are also extensive cooperation between the UK and US nuclear laboratories and that "Even UK testing was done in the US as the UK has no test zone for such manoeuvres." "The continued development of Trident threatens both the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty and world stability," the campaign group has consistently warned.
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