UK’s Nuclear Deterrent in the age of drones

Interesting observations in the age of the drones.

All declared threats to Britain tend to come either from powers with no conceivable designs on conquering Britain or from forces immune to deterrence. Nor has anyone explained why, if Trident is so vital to Britain’s safety, that is not true for the 25 non-nuclear Nato states, not to mention almost all other countries in the world.

Even the more articulate defenders of Trident, such as the Tory MP Julian Lewis, must fall back on unspecific ideals of world influence and “insurance”, without ever defining a deter-able threat. Britain’s bomb cut no ice with Leopoldo Galtieri, Slobodan Milošević or Saddam Hussein. We can imagine swarms of terrorists charging ashore off the Dover ferry, but it would make more sense putting Dad’s Army back in uniform and issuing teachers with machine guns.

Today Trident’s chief enemy is neither Corbyn nor the Treasury. It is technology. Renewal is besieged by questions about cyber security.

More severe is whether these giant manned weapons have any future anyway. It is stupid enough spending billions on carriers when bombing wars are increasingly conducted by drones. It now appears that submarines will be vulnerable to squadrons of underwater drones, armed and able to read their every move. A seaborne missile may be as obsolete as a medieval warhorse in the age of the rifle.

Source: Renew Trident? It’d make more sense to put Dad’s Army on the case | Simon Jenkins