In a televised address to the French on Wednesday, the French president described Russia as a 'threat to France and Europe,' and said he wanted to confer with European allies on using France's nuclear deterrent to protect Europe.
What in the world makes you think a sovereign nation (UK) has to ask permission from the US to use their military arsenal?! We might have agreements in place, but no way in hell does the US control the UK’s nuclear launch capability.
They did have to ask the USA for permission about giving permission to Ukraine using their Storm Shadows, because the guidance system is from the USA IIRC.
It’s not as straight forward as asking permission, but you should read about Trident as a missle platform.
To say the UK has a genuinely independent nuclear deterent is not as clear cut as you’d think. But that’s not the same as being absolutely beholden to the US.
That all said, we really do need to swap to the french missle system, but that will take time to retro fit the subs.
5-7 years iirc according to the article I read. After that failure rates start going up, not sure how long the curve from 0-100% is though.
Bottom line the UK (and the rest of the EU) need to start getting missile factories stood up. Not just for trident but for all the other arms we get off the US.
There is a joined nuclear planning group of NATO where France is not and never was part of (while the UK is) and thus, preserving independence in that matter.
UK isn’t in the EU anyway
FYI the EU is not about military, only about economics.
The UK has made the recent JEF with sweden and others for example, so no problem joining up militarily.
The EU is both. There are EU joint battlegroups and a stronger mutual defense clause in the treaties than NATO.
I think the UK has to have US permission to use our nukes so they’re useless now
What in the world makes you think a sovereign nation (UK) has to ask permission from the US to use their military arsenal?! We might have agreements in place, but no way in hell does the US control the UK’s nuclear launch capability.
I’m not expert, just remembered reading something to that effect. The other commenter seems to know more.
They did have to ask the USA for permission about giving permission to Ukraine using their Storm Shadows, because the guidance system is from the USA IIRC.
So not a totally crazy thought IMO.
It’s not as straight forward as asking permission, but you should read about Trident as a missle platform.
To say the UK has a genuinely independent nuclear deterent is not as clear cut as you’d think. But that’s not the same as being absolutely beholden to the US.
That all said, we really do need to swap to the french missle system, but that will take time to retro fit the subs.
The UK outsourced maintenance of the delivery mechanism (the missile body) to the US.
The warhead is built & maintained by the UK.
The missiles have a life span so eventually they will stop working without US help.
Sure, the crux is how long is eventually. We may need that sooner than we previously thought.
5-7 years iirc according to the article I read. After that failure rates start going up, not sure how long the curve from 0-100% is though.
Bottom line the UK (and the rest of the EU) need to start getting missile factories stood up. Not just for trident but for all the other arms we get off the US.
There is a joined nuclear planning group of NATO where France is not and never was part of (while the UK is) and thus, preserving independence in that matter.