Trident, do we need it?

[Atheist-Lite]

http://www.cnduk.org/campaigns/no-to-trident

No To Trident

Trident is Britain's nuclear weapons system. It is made up of three parts: the warheads - which are the explosive 'bombs', the missiles which carry them, and the submarines which carry the missiles. The submarines are made at Barrow-in-Furness, refitted at Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth, and maintained at Faslane in Scotland. The missiles are leased from the US. The warheads are made at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Aldermaston and are stored at Faslane.

One of the submarines remains on patrol at all times and each submarine carries an estimated twelve missiles, each of which can carry up to four warheads – 48 in total. Each warhead has an explosive power of up to 100 kilotons of conventional high explosive.

This is 8 times the power of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, killing an estimated 240,000 people from blast and radiation.

(continued)

Seems expensive when we live safely under America's nuclear umbrella?

[klr]

One would hardly expect CND to advocate retention of Trident, now would we?

As for being under the US nuclear umbrella: The whole point of having your own nukes is that you are not beholden to someone else. And it would just be moving the problem somewhere else anyway.

[Schneibster]

Pakistan.

China.

Russia.

Reality is.

[Animavore]

I wish we had a bomb*

* (not a car bomb)

[Clinton Huxley]

The desire to retain our "own" nukes is one reason for britains cringing servility towards the usa. There are no conceivable circumstances under which we would, should or could use them and funding them strips our conventional forces of resources.

[Audley Strange]

Trident is a cock ring for a penis long flaccid.

[MrJonno]

Sure we can do something cheaper than American built submarines, work with the French or just have free fall nuclear bombs would be sufficient

[Coito ergo sum]

The desire to retain our "own" nukes is one reason for britains cringing servility towards the usa. There are no conceivable circumstances under which we would, should or could use them and funding them strips our conventional forces of resources.

What if another country used a nuke against a part of the UK? Would that be a conceivable circumstance?

[Clinton Huxley]

What if we got nuked? Then deterrence has failed already. How would responding after the event help? No, scrap the whole boondoggle and the secret agreements by which the usa condescends to let us have it and the uk might grow up a bit.

[Coito ergo sum]

What if we got nuked? Then deterrence has failed already. How would responding after the event help?

Killing your enemy before they can do it again, to you or someone else.

No, scrap the whole boondoggle and the secret agreements by which the usa condescends to let us have it and the uk might grow up a bit.

Come on, Hux. We all know full-well that American nukes are just cheap, bland imitations of proper English nukes.

[Schneibster]

What if we got nuked? Then deterrence has failed already. How would responding after the event help?

Killing your enemy before they can do it again, to you or someone else.

Clinton's response is the more civilized.

I wish it worked like that.

[Clinton Huxley]

We couldnt guarantee to wipe out the enemy's remaining capacity with a counterstrike. They would probably nuke us back. Everyone ends up worse. Id rather spend the money on conventional forces that could actually be used. Or on a shield. Our nukes are pointless.

[Animavore]

Who came up with 'Trident' anyway? Ian Fleming?

[Schneibster]

Right now they're the only known way to reduce the likelihood of a nuclear strike against your soil maximally. There is no "shield;" you saw the Patriot batteries work. And those were lo-tech missiles they were shooting them at. They're not much better today. It's too high and too fast. The only sure thing protection is the threat of retaliation and it must be credible. That's a bitch, but there it is.

[Geoff]

I'd say get rid of Trident, but so as not to waste them, let's use up the ones we have on some deserving targets. Iran, France, the Vatican and Yorkshire, to start with...