west didsblue
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 2 Oct 2011
- Messages
- 32,263
Not sure why you’ve posted this.Ah ok then .... but the UK seems to heavily reliant on the USA.
Nuclear targeting
British warheads can be integrated into American nuclear war plans and there is a UK Liaison Cell at the headquarters of U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) responsible for American plans. America also supplies important aspects of nuclear targeting data to UK submarines and the Royal Navy uses American software for target planning and data processing. American officers are stationed at the Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood from where UK submarine operations are controlled in order to coordinate British and American Trident submarine operations. Under the Polaris Sales Agreement UK nuclear forces are formally “committed to NATO and targeted in accordance with Alliance policy and strategic concepts under plans made by the Supreme Allied Command Europe (SACEUR)”. NATOs’ Nuclear Planning System is linked to STRATCOM and probably MOD and is dominated by U.S. nuclear planning.
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Everybody knows we work closely and coordinate with the Americans.
It doesn’t change the fact that we have an operationally independent nuclear deterrent that ultimately is controlled by the UK. It is highly unlikely that we would not coordinate with the US in their deployment however that doesn’t mean we are operationally reliant on them and can’t make our own decisions.