Nukes

[shaunbhoy]

Because 90% of the cost is putting the subs out to sea for 40 years, which you would still have to do for a fake deterrent anyway.

But the subs need to be undetectable or else they could fairly easily be neutralized. That being the case, who amongst our enemies could really be sure they were not still out there?

[AtW]

But the subs need to be undetectable or else they could fairly easily be neutralized. That being the case, who amongst our enemies could really be sure they were not still out there?

Subs do come back to their pens from time to time, there are often pretty regular communications.

[shaunbhoy]

Subs do come back to their pens from time to time,

Not that often. I am sure some plausible subterfuge could be arranged.

there are often pretty regular communications.

Yes, but the communications would be safely encrypted and comms from any standard submarine would be indistinguishable from that of a nuclear sub.
The whole charade seems perfectly achievable.

[AtW]

Yes, but the communications would be safely encrypted and comms from any standard submarine would be indistinguishable from that of a nuclear sub. The whole charade seems perfectly achievable.

And crazy Trident money would still need to be spent to maintain the charade, lovely idea - no real nukes, so that even Korbyn could press a button when enemy missiles hit targets in London - undoubtly triggering big real estate crash

[NibblyPig]

Why not just pretend we are renewing Trident but in reality spend the money on housing and infrastructure projects? None of our enemies would ever be completely sure we didn't have them, so we would get the benefit of a deterrent for free.

Why not just scrap it all except for one, single nuclear missile, which is preprogrammed to hit somewhere at random?

Do you feel lucky, punk?

It might even hit Swindon

[AtW]

Why not just scrap it all except for one, single nuclear missile, which is preprogrammed to hit somewhere at random?

Even better - just build peaceful nuclear reactors on the territory of your potential enemies and you'll be making money during peace time and during war time you don't even need a missile to deliver the payload...

[SpontaneousOrder]

It's absurd. Why would anyone other than some nutty terrorist types (who can't be targeted for retaliation) want to nuke us? It was a big enough deal when the Russians stopped buying EU fruit. There is no motive for any nation to nuke another.

[AtW]

Nukes must stay.

It's the only way to be sure.

[centurian]

Not that often. I am sure some plausible subterfuge could be arranged.




Yes, but the communications would be safely encrypted and comms from any standard submarine would be indistinguishable from that of a nuclear sub.
The whole charade seems perfectly achievable.

The ruskies are known to lurk near Faslane to collect sonar traces of the Vanguard class fleet as the leave/arrive.

You are right - in that no-one actually knows whether the Vanguard fleet are actively armed - maybe on some occasions they were dispatched without active warheads or launch capability, due to some issue. But their mere presence in the ocean acted as a deterrent.

But the boats do need to go out to sea - and that's what costs the dosh.

[AtW]

But the boats do need to go out to sea - and that's what costs the dosh.

Warheads need to be checked regularly, some extra radiation must be possible to test - totally faking it would cost almost as much. It's probably easier to fake quantity of warheads, but with all other costs incurred one might as well get many warheads.