(May 24, 2017 at 2:15 pm)Tazzycorn Wrote: 1) The nukes listed under the UK are in fact owned, controlled and coded under US Cent Command, and therefore should be listed with the rest of the US missiles.
Trident is certainly not perfect by any means, but it is independent and the Prime Minister could easily order a strike without US involvement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trident_nu...ear_policy
Quote:The final decision on firing the missiles is the responsibility of the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Upon taking office, the prime minister writes four identical letters of last resort, each of which is locked in a safe on board the Vanguard submarines. If contact with the UK is lost, the commanding officer of a submarine has to follow the instructions in the letter if they believe that the United Kingdom has suffered an overwhelming attack. Options include retaliating with nuclear weapons, not retaliating, and putting the submarine under the command of an ally.[21] The exact content of the letters is never disclosed, and they are destroyed without being read upon the election of a new prime minister.
Under the terms of the arrangement, the United States does not have any veto on the use of British nuclear weapons, which the UK may launch independently.[22]
You may also wish to check out the UK Defence Journal's article on the subject as well.
