The Ministry of Defence has also ruled out cancelling the replacement for the Trident nuclear weapons system, although there have been suggestions it could be scaled back from four submarines to three, he adds.
The campaign group Greenpeace has said in a report scrapping Trident would save £34bn - the government estimates that replacing the submarines and warheads would cost £15bn - £20bn.
I'm wondering whether this backhanded vote of confidence in the Trident replacement program doesn't sound the death knell of the UK's sea based deterrent. I suppose it's possible to run a full deterrent patrol with only three boomers, but it wouldn't be easy, and would lead to enormous wear on both crew and equipment. I wouldn't be surprised if the replacement program goes down something like this: An official determination is made that the Royal Navy can get by on three SSBNs, followed in a couple years by a determination that three boats can't do the job, followed by the termination of the program.
More details on the difference between the Greenpeace estimate and the government cost estimate can be found here. You may be inclined not to trust Greenpeace on this point, but you should also be very reluctant to accept the numbers set forth by Her Majesty's government, which has a strong incentive to deceive...
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