Nuclear Submarines

Dr. Julian Lewis
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what assessment he has made of the cost-effectiveness of adopting existing submarine-launched cruise missiles to carry nuclear warheads;

(2) what assessment he has made of the potential (a) advantages and (b) disadvantages of a nuclear deterrent of nuclear cruise missiles carried on submarines.

Des Browne
The White Paper (CM 6994) on the future of the UK's nuclear deterrent published on4 December set out (at paragraph 5-3 and 5-4, Box 5-1 and Annex B, paragraph 6) our assessment of the effectiveness of a nuclear deterrent based on cruise missiles. We concluded that, in terms of both cost and capability, retaining the Trident D5 ballistic missile is by far the best approach.