Although experts say it’s ‘extremely unlikely’ Trump would do it, you can’t put anything past the US President
Britain needs to be ready to react if Donald Trump pulls the plug on US support for the UK’s nuclear deterrent, experts have said.
It is the latest stark warning issued by security chiefs in recent days amid the tension surrounding the historic transatlantic alliance between the nations on either side of the pond.
It’s been a jam-packed week in the political sphere, especially in wake of Trump’s explosive verbal tussle with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office.
A lot of Brits were left wondering where on earth we stand in all of this, as it came just days after Sir Keir Starmer sat down with the US President and days before he welcomed Ukraine’s leader at Downing Street.
It seemed as though the Prime Minister was stuck between a rock and a hard place, while he later urged the warring political figures to ‘find a way that we can all work together’.
Starmer has made a point of shooting down Vice President JD Vance in recent days, after Trump’s deputy bizarrely described the UK as ‘a random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 years’.
The PM also addressed the factually incorrect comments from Vance in the House of Commons yesterday (5 March), and even reform leader Nigel Farage was on the same page as the Labour leader.
Despite this stuff, Starmer has forged a decent relationship with Trump on the whole since taking office.
However, the UK has been warned to have its wits about, as the chumminess between the leaders doesn’t rid us of the risk that the US could effectively dismantle our nuclear deterrent.
The Trident nuclear-weapons system is part of our defence against weapons of mass destruction and it was created so that a retaliatory strike could be launched on any aggressors.
It is made up of four nuclear-powered Vanguard-class submarines, missiles and warheads, according to the BBC, and each sub is designed to carry 16 Trident missiles.
The UK has it’s own nuclear warheads, so we’re all okay on that front – but the problem is, they are fitted to US-made and maintained Trident ballistic missiles.
These are carried in the Royal Navy’s Vanguard Class submarines, who exercise control over these as soon as they are on the submarines.
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But before they are actually loaded onboard, these are taken from a joint stockpile divvied between the UK and the US which is based in Georgia.
Although we’ve never had any trouble with accessing the missiles before, there’s a first time for everything – and experts have urged officials to create a suitable contingency plan.
Former British soldier turned defence industry analyst, Nicholas Drummond, reassured people it was ‘extremely unlikely’ that Trump would make such a move.
Although the expert points out it would be a ‘strategic betrayal on a grand scale that would damage him and America’, as they say, you can never say never.
“When it comes to support and maintenance, I would say that we are largely dependent on the US for parts and technical assistance,” Drummond told The Times. “If this was withdrawn, it would also weaken our deterrent.
“Can you imagine a situation where Britain’s relationship with America is fractured and they refuse to give us Trident missiles through the agreement that is in place?
“It would render the billions we have invested in Dreadnought boats useless. A terrifying thought.
“Anyone who suggested this a year ago would have been dismissed as an idiot. Now it is a scenario that we need to plan for.”
Matthew Savill, the director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, also stressed the importance of the UK being prepared.
“If the US cut off support we would have a load of Trident missiles but at some point we would need to fashion our own missiles with somebody,” he said.
“We could in due course replace these things but the cost would be excruciating.”
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