TYPHOON SUBMARINE REPLACEMENT MOD
TYPHOON SUBMARINE REPLACEMENT UPDATE
TYPHOON SUBMARINE REPLACEMENT SERIES

The Royal Navy has delivered the nuclear deterrent under Operation Relentless since 1969, with at least one of four nuclear-armed submarines on patrol at all times.ĭreadnought Class submarines will be Britain’s next generation of nuclear deterrent under the Successor programme, replacing the current four Vanguard Class submarines.

TYPHOON SUBMARINE REPLACEMENT MOD

Martin Docherty-Hughes, an SNP member of the defence select committee, said: “It is simply unacceptable that we need to parse UK government statements for half phrases and words which the MoD could be using to cover its own backside.” He said he would be writing to the chair of the committee to demand an inquiry.Īn MoD spokesperson said: “The current phase of the Dreadnought submarine programme has been extended, but we remain on track for the first submarine to enter service in the early 2030s and within the allocated budget.Somewhere in the world’s oceans, there are always up to four British nuclear submarines patrolling the waters, carrying an arsenal of Trident thermonuclear warheads as part of the UK’s continuous-at-sea-deterrent (CASD) – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Ministers were told that at the time that nuclear safety had not been compromised.

Fortunately the accident happened at a relatively low speed. Details were initially hushed up, before it was leaked to a newspaper. In February 2009, Vanguard collided with a French nuclear submarine, Le Triomphant, in a freak accident in the Atlantic. The crew only managed to regain control through a backup power system. In 1998 HMS Vanguard, carrying 96 nuclear warheads and 135 crew, plunged into a deep dive following a power failure between Cornwall and the south of Ireland. Last year it emerged that two of the four vessels were out of action at the same time, one of which, HMS Vanguard, is still having its nuclear reactor refuelled at a cost of £200m.īritain prefers to shroud its nuclear programme in secrecy, but there have been accidents in the past. Two functioning submarines – one at sea and one ready to replace it – are the minimum necessary to maintain the continuous nuclear deterrent.

TYPHOON SUBMARINE REPLACEMENT SERIES

Their life has been guaranteed by a series of extensions, but they will have to last well over 30 years. The four existing Trident submarines were originally built to last 25 years, meaning they would have been out of service between 20. However, Cullen said the MoD’s insistence on using the “early 2030s” formulation meant it was impossible to tell the exact impact of the delay. “The extension to the current phase is not expected to impact on in-service dates,” a spokesperson said. MoD officials told the Guardian that the delay to phase 2 – which sets the commercial and approval framework for the rest of the project – would not affect the final delivery date of the first replacement submarine. The first submarine was initially due to come into service in 2024, then 2028, and now the “early 2030s”, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) says. The Dreadnought programme, first approved by Labour in 2007, has been repeatedly delayed by governments since. “Covid is going to be with us for a while, and nobody will be surprised if there are other delays to Dreadnought,” Cullen said, arguing that the relative secrecy suggested “this isn’t the behaviour of a department that is confident it can deliver on its promises”. This was spotted by David Cullen, of the Nuclear Information Service, who recalled a promise made a year earlier to conclude the work in March 2021. It did not say that this amounted to a one-year delay to the sprawling programme.

TYPHOON SUBMARINE REPLACEMENT UPDATE

An SNP member of the defence select committee has now called for it to hold an inquiry into the Trident replacement programme, complaining about a lack of transparency.Īn annual update on nuclear replacement, released to MPs before Christmas, said that “recognising the high levels of uncertainty caused by the pandemic” and its impact on supply chains, “delivery phase 2 will continue until March 2022”.

Typhoon submarine replacement