Britain will spend nearly $5 billion to prepare the development of a new generation of nuclear-armed submarines, UPI reported. Defense Secretary Liam Fox Wednesday told Members of Parliament that a study of alternatives to the so-called Trident program was also being prepared. That's an obvious nod to the Liberal Democrats, the junior coalition partner, which has in the past said developing and maintaining the very costly nuclear deterrent is unnecessary. Adjusted for inflation, the final price tag of the new submarines would be between $32 billion and $40 billion, up from the 2006 estimate of no more than $23 billion.
