Trident
| Introduction
Trident is the UK's nuclear weapons system. It consists of four Trident submarines: Vanguard, Victorious, Vigilant and Vengeance. Each submarine can carry up to sixteen Trident missiles. On each missile are a number of 100 kiloton atomic bombs (for further details click here).
All of the UK's nuclear weapons are based at the Faslane and Coulport Naval Bases on the Firth of Clyde, about 30 miles northwest of Glasgow.
The British Trident is designed to destroy the
command and control centres in the Moscow area.
It could also be used in "extreme circumstances... to send to an aggressor a political message" according to John Reid, Armed Forces Minister (26 January 1998).
An attack using the warheads from one submarine
against likely targets (e.g. the Moscow area
in Russia) would mean over 3 million deaths.
The explosions would cause damage vastly greater
than the damage caused by non-nuclear weapons.
Survivors would be without food or medical assistance.
The radiation would damage people, animals and
plants. The detonation of one warhead would
cause tens of thousands of deaths.
The total cost has been estimated to be £50,000
million. Trident costs £2,000 every minute.
None. Trident does not create jobs it destroys
them. Each job in the Trident programme has
cost at least £125,000 per year. If the same
money was spent on hospitals, schools or housing
then seven times more people would be given
jobs. Government estimates in the 1980s of how
many people would be employed by Trident in
Scotland have been shown to be exaggerated,
partly due to the transfer of the submarine
refit contract from Rosyth to Devonport.
NATO's defence strategy is based on nuclear
weapons and its frontier is being advanced towards
Russia. Russia has a large and efficient nuclear
force. India and Pakistan have nuclear weapons.
Many claim that that the world is more unstable
than it was during the time of the USSR. There
must remain the risk that in situations of conflict
the existence of nuclear weapons will lead to
there use in a war in which Britain would be
involved.
Other countries will not attack a strong country.
When one country has nuclear weapons, other
countries need to have them to keep the balance
of power. Having nuclear weapons gives a country
prestige and influence. The design and production
of nuclear weapons creates jobs.
CND's responses:
"The
likely consequences of nuclear war make other
threats to the environment pale into insignificance."
Today there are enough atom bombs in the world
to destroy all human life on the planet several
times over. One bomb can destroy a city. The
Trident submarines at Faslane can destroy an
entire continent.
Atom bombs not only totally devastate a huge
area but also scatter lethal radiation. Over
time the radiation would be dispersed throughout
the entire globe.
"Trident - Britain's Weapon of Mass Destruction"
What About Britain's Weapons of Mass Destruction? | ||||||||
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