The Mutual Defense Agreement (MDA) lies at the heart of the special nuclear relationship between the United States and United Kingdom. The nuclear relationship set up by the MDA is seen to be beneficial to both the US and UK by cementing the bilateral relationship in sharing of nuclear weapons technology, as well as enshrining a certain uneven power structure in law.
Mutual Defence Agreement
US-UK Mutual Defence Agreement Renewal 2014: a foregone conclusion?
1958 saw the first protest march to Britain’s nuclear bomb factory at Aldermaston, the start of the deployment of US THOR ballistic missiles with thermonuclear warheads at RAF Feltwell, a series of British thermonuclear tests at Christmas Island and the US and the UK signing the Agreement For Cooperation on the Uses of Atomic Energy for Mutual Defence Purposes – also known as the Mutual Defence Agreement (MDA).
The Challenges of Coherent U.S. Extended Nuclear Deterrence and Assurance
In this brief paper, Paul Ingram discusses U.S. commitments on extended nuclear detterence and expectations among allies. He explores the issues facing NATO and focuses on the UK-US security relationship around Trident.
Deterrence, Disarmament, Non-Proliferation and UK Trident
This discussion paper is the fourth in a series and outlines the emergence of Britain's nuclear deterrence posture and thinking over the last seventy years, and how successive governments have sought to balance this with effective non-proliferation diplomacy. Professor Simpson's paper outlines the evolution of Britain's twin-track approach of trying to address its own national security whilst strengthening global security through multilateral nuclear disarmament, and asks whether this approach has a sustained future ahead.