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UK nuclear deterrent totally dependent on US, says London mayor

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Oct 25, IRNA -- To claim that Britain’s Trident nuclear missile system is independent is a “complete fiction,” London mayor Boris Johnson said on Monday.

“We should be under absolutely no illusions that this is in any sense an independent deterrent,” Johnson said, but argued that Britain should still spend billions of dollars to upgrade the submarine-based system.

“When we eventually renew Trident, in whatever form, we will be spending tens of billions on machinery and technology that is American in virtually every respect,” he said.

The London mayor specified that the warhead is a copy of the US W76 warhead, the arming, fusing and firing systems are designed by the American Sandia lab, the neutron generator is manufactured in the US and the gas reservoir is made and even filled in America.

“But what makes our so-called independent deterrent a complete fiction is above all the guidance system,” he said, adding that Britain was totally reliant on using GPS and giro navigation system, which are controlled by America.

Although it is not an official nuclear power, India even has its own space industry and like Russia, China and American “can use their own satellites to guide their own missiles,” the mayor said in contrast to Britain’s dependence.

“It is a melancholy reflection of our changed status in the world that by aiding the Indians, as we must, we are effectively supporting them to achieve a nuclear independence that we cannot ourselves afford,” he reflected.

But even if Britain’s nuclear deterrent is made in America and is under US control, Johnson insisted that the country should retain Trident.

“We can't be bullied. We can't let the word get around that we are a soft touch. I don't want this country to be blackmailed by France – which has 300 warheads,” he often outspoken Conservative major said in an article for the Daily Telegraph.

“If we want to deter aggression, if we want to remain members of the UN Security Council, if we want to speak up powerfully for all that is good and right in the comity of nations – and if we want people to take us seriously – then I am afraid it is a sad necessity that we continue to wield a nuclear club,” he said.

Johnson admitted Britain’s plight that “even if we chopped the whole overseas aid budget, we still could not afford to build our own independent nuclear deterrent.”

“If you don't invest in your own satellites, you end up as a satellite power – which is effectively what we are; and the best that can be said for the position is that it may be undignified, but it saves us a fortune,” he said.