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UK set to announce decision on nuclear arsenal
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 30 - 11 - 2006


Britain's government will
announce its decision on Monday on the future of its nuclear
arsenal, officials said on Thursday, and analysts said it would
probably back new or updated submarine-launched missiles, according to Reuters.
The government appears to have ruled out scrapping nuclear
weapons, the defence analysts said.
Britain has submarine-launched Trident nuclear missiles and
buying a completely new system could cost up to 25 billion
pounds ($48 billion).
But there is also the option of using cheaper cruise
missiles or enhancing the current system to extend its life
beyond 2024.
"They seem to have come down to a submarine-launched nuclear
weapon of some sort to replace Trident," said Andrew Brookes,
aerospace specialist at the International Institute for
Strategic Studies thinktank.
Prime Minister Tony Blair's cabinet will hold a special
meeting on nuclear weapons on Monday morning and a policy
document setting out the government's preferred option will be
published later in the day, Blair's spokesman said.
Parliament will debate and vote on the issue early next
year.
A decision to replace the existing Trident nuclear missile
system will prompt a rebellion by some members of Blair's Labour
Party but he is expected to be able to push through the decision
with the backing of the opposition Conservatives.
During its years in the political wilderness in the 1980s,
Labour was committed to unilateral nuclear disarmament.
Former leader Neil Kinnock scrapped the pledge in the late
1980s, but nuclear weapons remain a touchstone issue for some on
the left of the party.
Blair and his likely successor, finance minister Gordon
Brown, favour maintaining Britain's nuclear deterrent and Blair
seems determined to settle the issue of Trident's successor
before he steps down some time next year.
Ministers say decisions must be taken now if Britain is to
replace the current system, consisting of Trident missiles
carried aboard four Vanguard-class nuclear-powered submarines.
Defence analyst Charles Heyman said he was "pretty sure" the
government would opt for a submarine-based option -- rather than
nuclear weapons based on land or dropped from the air.
Heyman said the government could decide to modify the
existing system to prolong its life. But he said service chiefs
were pushing for a new nuclear deterrent because an update would
only last a few years.
Government officials have lined up in recent weeks to warn
that terrorist groups are seeking the know-how to plot nuclear
strikes against Britain and that threat is unlikely to recede,
sources close to the debate said on Thursday.
They say there is also a growing threat from states in
unstable regions -- amid intense competition for natural
resources -- and that these states may by 2024 develop nuclear
technology.
North Korea recently carried out a nuclear test and the West
accuses Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, although
Tehran denies it. Opponents say nuclear weapons are unnecessary
and a waste of money.


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