Two BASIC papers published in recent months (The Inescapable Net: Unmanned Systems in Anti-Submarine Warfare and A Primer on Trident's Cyber Vulnerabilities), have asserted the UK’s strategic nuclear deterrent is in danger of becoming vulnerable in such a way that it can no longer be relied upon to fulfil its primary role.
Programmes
Dangerous Omissions and Intellectual Obfuscation: The ‘Left-Wing’ Case for Trident
Ian Sinclair, a writer for Open Democracy, published an article outlining a critical response to Paul Mason's “The leftwing case for nuclear weapons.” The article makes reference to a quote by Ted Seay that calls into question the independence of UK's nuclear policy.
Report: Beyond the Ban: The humanitarian initiative of nuclear disarmament and advocacy of no-first-use nuclear doctrines
Deep dissatisfaction with the lack of progress in multilateral nuclear disarmament has led a large number of states within the international community to participate in a process to highlight the humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons.
Future Nuclear Security in a Rapidly Evolving World
BASIC and N Square Collaborative are co-hosting a unique open-ended workshop in San Francisco: an exploration of issues surrounding nuclear security, nuclear deterrence and international governance with a diverse group of participants. This is the concluding part of a project funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York looking at methods of reframing nuclear security issues in holistic, systems perspectives.
Price tag on Trident nuclear missile fleet still unknown but rising
Richard Norton-Taylor has written an article for the Guardian on April 26th about the rising costs of Trident and has cited BASIC’s input into the ongoing financial debate.
SNP MP blasts Trident ‘factsheet’ as short on facts
Andrew Learmonth from the National wrote an article outlining the criticisms of SNP MP, Kirsten Oswald, regarding a recently published factsheet by the UK Government on Trident. The article goes on to cite BASIC in outlining the projected costs of Trident renewal, and pulls quotes directly from a recent publication written by Dr. Nick Ritchie.
Feeding the ‘Monster’: Escalating Capital Costs for the Trident Successor Programme
In October 2015 Jon Thomson, Permanent Under Secretary at the Ministry of Defence, described the Trident Successor programme as a “monster” that kept him up at night, “the biggest project the Ministry of Defence will ever take on” and “an incredibly complicated area in which to try to estimate future costs.”
Understanding the New Arms Race
The stand-off between Russia and the West has prompted triggered fears of a renewed East-West. Amidst this climate of confrontation, nuclear weapons have regained some relevance for strategists on both sides, and political leaders have implied veiled nuclear threats.