A Trident missile armed Vanguard class ballistic missile submarine leaving its base in the Firth of Clyde. Photo: bodgerbrooks, CC BY-SA 2.0, $3
Britain’s Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has sparked a row within the Labour Party by suggesting the UK could retain the Trident submarine fleet – but without nuclear warheads.
Mr Corbyn has said there ere “options” for maintaining defence jobs while at the same time showing the UK was willing to take a lead in nuclear “de-escalation”, but in an article for The Scotsman by Andrew Whitaker, I cast doubt on his suggestions, as Trident submarines are designed specifically to carry nuclear warheads and not conventional weapons.
To just take nukes off Trident would not work as the submarines are purpose designed. They are not designed to do otherwise. It would involve spending a lot of money to not do very much.
Tim Ripley has been writing on defence issues since 1990, for a wide range of British and international publications. He has reported from conflict zones in the Balkans and Middle East, as well as major defence and aerospace industry exhibitions around the world. Recent assignments include the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia, the Farnborough, Paris, Dubai and Singapore Airshows, NATO Headquarters in Brussels, The Hague war crimes tribunal and the Pentagon in Washington DC.
His news reporting and features have appeared in the mainstream news media (The Sunday Telegraph, The Economist, The Scotsman) as well as specialist defence publications (Jane's Defence Weekly, Jane's Intelligence Review, Jane's Sentinel, Air Forces Monthly, Air International, Defence Helicopter, Unmanned Vehicles, Flight International, Flight Daily News, World Air Power Journal, International Air Power Review)
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