By Duarte Dias
February 21, 2024
London — Britain's Defense Secretary Grant Shapps sought to reassure U.K. lawmakers Wednesday that the country's nuclear deterrent weapons program was functional and ready to be called upon if needed after a second consecutive missile test reportedly failed. A nuclear-capable Trident II missile test launched in the Atlantic off the coast of Florida on Jan. 30 reportedly splashed back down shortly after launching, according to Britain's The Sun newspaper.
The missile was launched from one of the Royal Navy's HMS Vanguard-class submarines — with Shapps on board to observe — but its first stage booster engine failed to ignite, causing it to fall back down and then sink, according to CBS News partner network BBC News.
While Britain's Trident missiles are designed to carry nuclear warheads, they are not armed for test launches
In a statement to parliament, Shapps confirmed an "anomaly" during the missile test, but insisted that it had "reaffirmed the effectiveness of the U.K.'s nuclear deterrent."
The BBC said it was the second consecutive test of a Trident missile to fail after one of the rockets veered off course in 2016, also off Florida's Atlantic coast. The test launches don't happen often, with each missile costing U.K. taxpayers more than $20 million.
The cause of the 2016 failure has never been disclosed, but at the time, The Sunday Times newspaper reported the missile had suffered an in-flight "malfunction."
"The U.K.'s nuclear weapons program is not functioning and needs an urgent rethink," David Cullen, a former activist who's now the director of the British monitoring group Nuclear Information Service, told CBS News on Wednesday. "This failure has happened with a backdrop of the navy struggling to maintain [Trident submarine] patrols and ballooning costs."
Shapps, however, called the Trident system "effective, dependable, and formidable." North Korea's Kim hurls nuclear threats as U.S. enters an election year
"The test reaffirmed the effectiveness of the U.K.'s nuclear deterrent, in which the government has absolute confidence," Shapps said in a written statement delivered to lawmakers in the British Parliament on Wednesday. "On this occasion, an anomaly did occur, but it was event specific and there are no implications for the reliability of the wider Trident missile systems and stockpiles. Nor are there any implications for our ability to fire our nuclear weapons, should the circumstances arise in which we need to do so."
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, a U.K.-based group that has long called for an end to Britain's nuclear weapons program, derided the test as a "colossal waste of money."
"We have to ask if this is a good use of the Defense Secretary's time — going to Florida chasing photo opportunities for what ultimately was an expensive failure," the campaign's General Secretary Kate Hudson said in a statement.
The U.K.'s nuclear deterrent program consists of four Vanguard-class submarines, each of which can carry up to 16 Trident II D5 ballistic missiles. At least one submarine is always deployed, with its location among Britain's most closely guarded military secrets. A second sub waits on standby while a third carries out training exercises and the fourth is brought in for maintenance.
The Ministry of Defense says that since the system was deployed in April 1969, there has constantly been at least one British nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine quietly patrolling the seas. The "deterrent" principle of the Trident system relies on the U.K.'s global adversaries never knowing the exact location of the deployed submarine.
Trident test failure an ’embarrassment’ for UK as expert warns of ageing fleet
Former defence minister Tobias Ellwood said weapon's rocket system did not fire because of testing equipment strapped to the missile
The Trident missile test failure is an embarrassment for the UK and will heighten concerns about the impact of delays in replacing the current fleet, a military expert has told i.
The Government said it retains “absolute confidence” in the UK’s nuclear deterrent despite reports of a HMS Vanguard Trident missile test failure last month – the second unsuccessful test in eight years.
But questions remain about the effectiveness of the nuclear deterrent, after it was revealed the Trident missile crashed into the sea close to the launch site after its boosters failed shortly following its launch on 30 January.
Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, said although the incident is unlikely to significantly effect its international adversaries’ perceptions of the UK’s nuclear capabilities, it could be detrimental in a domestic context.
Mr Savill told i: “I do think the bit where it matters is that for domestic public and political support. It looks embarrassing.
“It’s the second failure, allegedly, of a UK firing and the UK has not announced a successful firing of a Trident missile now since 2012.
“It’s been over 10 years since we’ve – at least announced – that we have [successfully] fired such a missile.”
Last month’s incident, which occurred as HMS Vanguard is set to re-enter service after a seven-year refit, has also put the reliability of the ageing fleet under the spotlight.
Mr Savill said: “There is already concern around the deterrent and, more specifically, the replacement programme.”
The Vanguard-class fleet was introduced into service in the 1990s. They are designed to last 25 years but are set to be 10 years over their expected lifespans by the time they are replaced by the Dreadnought class.
Setbacks with the Dreadnought programme have delayed the phasing out of the current fleet of nuclear deterrent submarines.
“The material state of those boats will be degrading over time, even with refits,” Mr Savill said.
He added: “The critical thing about the Vanguard-class is that it must not be detected. It has to be able to continue to operate at-sea completely undetected by Russia or China.
“As they become less reliable and more stressed, that becomes harder.”
Mr Savill added: “Both the boats and the people are under stress because they age, they become less reliable – that’s why you have to put more effort into maintaining them – and that means, for example, the territory patrols are getting longer and longer, which puts even more stress on the equipment.”
Former defence minister Tobias Ellwood said the missile’s rocket did not fire because of testing equipment.
He told GB News: “I understand it was some equipment that was actually attached to the missile itself that prevented the firing of the rocket system after the missile had left the submarine.”
He added: “The actual rocket didn’t fire because of the testing equipment. Now, of course, were this to be fired in anger you wouldn’t have that testing equipment strapped on to the missile itself.”
Until the Vanguard-class fleet is replaced it is required to maintain continuous deployment at sea.
In September 2023, it was reported that a Vanguard-class vessel set a new record for the long patrol after spending more than six months at sea.
The patrol is significantly longer than the previous typical three-month patrol.
An unarmed Trident missile splashed into the sea close to its launch site, the U.K. government confirmed on Wednesday, fueling scrutiny of the state of Britain’s nuclear deterrent.
The Royal Navy aircraft carrier the H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth approaching a naval base in Portsmouth, England.Credit...Henry Nicholls/ReutersBy Mark Landler
Reporting from London
Feb. 21, 2024
The British government confirmed on Wednesday that the test launch of an unarmed Trident missile from a Royal Navy submarine last month had failed, raising questions about the state of Britain’s nuclear deterrence capability.
It was the second straight malfunction of such a launch, coming nearly eight years after another Trident flew off course at sea, an incident that at the time drew criticism about the government’s failure to disclose it.
This time, too, the failed launch was first reported not by the defense ministry but by a London tabloid, The Sun, which said the missile’s boosters failed and it landed in the water not far from the submarine, the H.M.S. Vanguard, which had just come out of a seven-year refurbishment.
Britain’s defense secretary, Grant Shapps, and the top-ranking officer in the Royal Navy were both aboard the Vanguard for the test on Jan. 30. In a written statement to the House of Commons, Mr. Shapps said “an anomaly did occur” during the test launch but that it was “event specific.”
“There are no implications for the reliability of the wider Trident missile systems and stockpiles,” Mr. Shapps wrote. “Nor are there any implications for our ability to fire our nuclear weapons, should the circumstances arise in which we need to do so.”
More on BritainA Setback for Conservatives: Britain’s governing party suffered crushing defeats in two parliamentary elections in a new blow to its embattled leader, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose future has been questioned by critics within his fractious political party.
A Rebrand: The train lines on London’s Overground, a rail system that largely serves people in neighborhoods outside of central London, will be renamed and will be assigned new colors. The changes are expected to make the system easier to navigate.
Labour’s Success and Setbacks: Britain’s main opposition party has a large lead in the polls but recent missteps have led to questions about the management skills of its leader, Keir Starmer.
A Tea Shortage: Some British grocery stores warned customers that supply issues had affected the “nationwide” availability of black tea, as Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea caused shipping delays.
Britain’s Navy has suffered a string of problems in recent months with its fleet. One of its flagship aircraft carriers, the H.MS. Queen Elizabeth, pulled out of a deployment to a NATO exercise off the coast of Norway earlier this month because of a problem with one of its propeller shafts.
Its sister ship, the H.M.S. Prince of Wales, took its place in the exercise, but its deployment was briefly delayed as well before it departed on Feb. 12. In 2022, the Prince of Wales broke down off the Isle of Wight, also because of a propeller-related issue, and required nine months of repairs.
Military analysts said it was difficult to say exactly what went wrong with the latest launch. Britain has four nuclear-powered submarines equipped with the Trident missile system, which is manufactured by the American firm Lockheed Martin. The missile was not armed with a nuclear warhead during the test.
“Whether the problem can now be rectified, or even what it is, is not clear,” said Malcolm Chalmers, the deputy director general of the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank in London. “But Vanguard is getting very old, beyond its planned service life, and it just came out of a seven-year repair and refueling.”
Mr. Chalmers criticized the government’s handling of the incident, noting that it had announced the test in advance but then failed to report its failure.
“Someone was bound to spot this, sooner or later,” he said, “and they should have got out in front of the story.”
The last failed launch, in June 2016, became a political headache for the government of Prime Minister Theresa May when news of it first leaked out several months later. Ms. May was initially unwilling to acknowledge the incident, even as she appealed to Parliament to invest in new Trident-armed submarines.
With anxieties rising about an aggressive Russia under President Vladimir V. Putin, Britain’s military readiness has again become a political hot button. The opposition Labour Party has accused successive Conservative-led governments of bleeding the armed forces through years of budget cuts imposed by fiscal austerity.
“Over the last 13 years, our army has been cut to the smallest size since the days of Napoleon,” Labour’s lawmaker responsible for defense policy, John Healey, and the party’s chief foreign policy official, David Lammy, wrote in a column last fall in the Daily Telegraph.
Mark Landler is the London bureau chief of The Times, covering the United Kingdom, as well as American foreign policy in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He has been a journalist for more than three decades. More about Mark Landler
No comments:
Post a Comment