On 20th March, Sir Keir Starmer, Prime Minister, and John Healey, Secretary of State for Defence, visited Barrow-in-Furness to join submariners on HMS Vanguard – one of the UK’s four nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) – returning from over 200 days at sea, one of the longest ever deployments for the Royal Navy’s nuclear armed submarines. (Britain’s World.)
The Prime Minister was also in Barrow-in-Furness to lay the keel of the first Dreadnought class submarine, the replacement for the ageing Vanguard class, which is expected to enter service in the early 2030s. In a speech following the keel laying ceremony, Sir Keir stated that the work being done in Barrow: ” … marks nothing less than the renewal of a historic national endeavour…After 55 years of our continuous-at-sea deterrent…This vessel will take that effort beyond a hundred years.
With the US commitment to Europe and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) coming into question, coupled with nuclear sabre rattling from Moscow, Britain’s nuclear deterrent is now more important than ever. With Germany and Poland calling for a European deterrent, the UK finds itself – alongside France – in demand. Nuclear powers can provide non-nuclear allies with extended deterrence. However, there are multiple challenges that HM Government faces, from the costs of the Trident renewal programme to the fact that the UK’s deterrence capability currently relies heavily on US support. There is also the issue that even if Britain replaces the US as the provider of NATO’s nuclear umbrella, the alliance will still lose considerable capabilities due to the loss of America’s tactical nuclear weapons – currently shared with Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Turkey. For this reason, Britain may need to augment its nuclear forces by regenerating a sub-strategic system (which was shelved in 1998).
In this new and threatening era, it would make sense for Britain and France to work together to develop a new deterrent architecture for Europe.
