In its defence review in October, the British government announced that it would postpone the crucial “main gate” decision to replace Trident until 2016 – after the next general election. However, through a freedom of information request Greenpeace learned in mid-January that in the “assessment phase” over the next four years the ministry of defence plan to place orders for several items ahead of the main gate decision.
These “long lead” items for the first submarine include elements of the hull, propulsion systems, power plant, combat and life support systems, raising the question for Greenpeace: “what’s left to buy and how much is all of this going to cost?”
Long lead items also include the nuclear reactor cores for the first three submarines. CND estimates these costs at £2.1bn.
Greenpeace observe: “It sounds like if we don’t watch out we’ll get to the 2016 vote only to find out that we’ve already bought a large part of the first submarine, we’re already tied into various contracts, and the familiar voices will be saying to us that it’s cheaper to go ahead with business as usual than scrap Trident.”
Topics: Nuclear weapons