The first of BASIC’s 2016 Parliamentary Briefing series relating to the Trident debate outlines the state of drone technology today relevant to anti-submarine warfare. Author David Hambling uses open sources to explore how small drone technology will impact the future detection and tracking of submarines.
Anti-Submarine Warfare
Concerning SSBN Vulnerability - recent papers
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.
UK nuclear weapons – a source of insecurity?
The UK doggedly maintains an ‘independent nuclear deterrent’ but a naval officer has blown the whistle on the system’s inherent insecurity—with its potentially incalculable implications.
Will the New Government be Obliged to Renew Trident?
The efforts to question Ed Miliband's commitment to maintain a credible independent nuclear deterrent have failed to land with the electorate. But it would be a serious error to think that is down to the repeated assurances that a Labour government will follow through with full renewal of the system.
UK Trident and the Successor Submarines
This is a factsheet on various aspects of the UK Trident debate. This was last updated…
Trident – weak defence
The Conservative-led government of austerity Britain is facing the sacrifice of its sacred cow of high military spending—to preserve the even more precious elephant in the room: the UK’s ‘independent’ nuclear weapon.
Carrington Series: Trident Renewal and Continuous-at-Sea Deterrence
On 4th March 2015, Chatham House hosted an invitation-only event in the Carrington Series on Trident renewal and continuous at sea deterrence.
The U.K. Is Fine With Its Fleet of Nuclear Subs, Thank You Very Much
On 1 July 2014 Elaine Grossman covers the launch of the Trident Commission's concluding report in this article for Defense One. In it, she quotes BASIC's executive director Paul Ingram as saying: “In the end, it comes down to a calculation which involves the value of nuclear weapons in national security strategy against the contributions of strengthening global nonproliferation norms…Britain does have a leadership role which it cannot wash its hands of.