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US gives Russia info on UK missiles - WoodlandsOwl - 02-04-2011 08:03 PM
Information about every Trident missile the US supplies to Britain will be given to Russia as part of an arms control deal signed by President Barack Obama next week.
Defence analysts claim the agreement risks undermining Britain’s policy of refusing to confirm the exact size of its nuclear arsenal.
The fact that the Americans used British nuclear secrets as a bargaining chip also sheds new light on the so-called “special relationship”, which is shown often to be a one-sided affair by US diplomatic communications obtained by the WikiLeaks website.
A series of classified messages sent to Washington by US negotiators show how information on Britain’s nuclear capability was crucial to securing Russia’s support for the “New START” deal.
Although the treaty was not supposed to have any impact on Britain, the leaked cables show that Russia used the talks to demand more information about the UK’s Trident missiles, which are manufactured and maintained in the US.
Washington lobbied London in 2009 for permission to supply Moscow with detailed data about the performance of UK missiles. The UK refused, but the US agreed to hand over the serial numbers of Trident missiles it transfers to Britain.
Professor Malcolm Chalmers said: “This appears to be significant because while the UK has announced how many missiles it possesses, there has been no way for the Russians to verify this. Over time, the unique identifiers will provide them with another data point to gauge the size of the British arsenal.”
Duncan Lennox, editor of Jane’s Strategic Weapons Systems, said: “They want to find out whether Britain has more missiles than we say we have, and having the unique identifiers might help them.”
While the US and Russia have long permitted inspections of each other’s nuclear weapons, Britain has sought to maintain some secrecy to compensate for the relatively small size of its arsenal.
William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, last year disclosed that “up to 160” warheads are operational at any one time, but did not confirm the number of missiles.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8304654/WikiLeaks-cables-US-agrees-to-tell-Russia-Britains-nuclear-secrets.html#
RE: US gives Russia info on UK missiles - Owl 69/70/75 - 02-04-2011 08:24 PM
This is from the "we want a deal so badly that we're willing to do anything to get one" school of negotiating. Makes you wonder what snakes might be under other rocks in the process.
RE: US gives Russia info on UK missiles - smn1256 - 02-04-2011 10:35 PM
Is everything Obama touches gonna be like the Obamacare bill?
RE: US gives Russia info on UK missiles - wild bill - 02-04-2011 10:43 PM
**** I'm kinda glad Wikileaks is showing what a sham job Obama and his administration is.
RE: US gives Russia info on UK missiles - SuperFlyBCat - 02-04-2011 10:58 PM
I am not surprised at all. All we have to do is look at Obama's history. Any Obama fans out there who want to
defend this? Good luck. He has thrown every ally into darkness. Our enemy is our so called President,
RE: US gives Russia info on UK missiles - WoodlandsOwl - 02-04-2011 11:02 PM
The Royal Navy has 4 SSBN's each with 16 missile tubes. One Trident D-5 missile can be fitted with up to 10 Re-entry Vehicles. 16 x 10 = 160.
I doubt they swap out their missiles between SSBN's after each patrol.
Its not too difficult to assume the UK has at least 64 Trident D-5 missiles...and they have some stashed away as re-loads. Now if some were covertly deployed in a silo or a mobile configuration, that would be interesting.
RE: US gives Russia info on UK missiles - wild bill - 02-04-2011 11:33 PM
How good are Trident missles? Are they the gold standard ICBM or short to medium range missles?
RE: US gives Russia info on UK missiles - WoodlandsOwl - 02-05-2011 12:03 AM
(02-04-2011 11:33 PM)wild bill Wrote: How good are Trident missles? Are they the gold standard ICBM or short to medium range missles?
With W-88 Warheads on a Trident D-5 you can have on-target accuracy of 200 feet with 400 kiloton+ yields on a 7000 mile range missile. Its a "First Strike" weapon and can take out hardened and buried targets.
The W-87 that was on the ground based MX/Peacekeeper had a yield of 300-400 kilotons with a similar accuracy.
RE: US gives Russia info on UK missiles - wild bill - 02-05-2011 12:21 AM
Anyone have anything close to as badass as that sounds lol
RE: US gives Russia info on UK missiles - TomorrowHerd - 02-05-2011 02:11 AM
Shouldn't the president of the US have the best interests of his own country and it's allies as the predominate factor in dealing with our enemies?
Just a question...
RE: US gives Russia info on UK missiles - Paul M - 02-05-2011 08:37 AM
Seems we asked the Brits if we could sale them out and they said heeeelllll no. And we did it anyway. My apologies to the UK.
RE: US gives Russia info on UK missiles - SumOfAllFears - 02-05-2011 11:03 AM
![[Image: obama-bow-to-saudi-king1.jpg]](http://www.alandcalledamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/obama-bow-to-saudi-king1.jpg)
RE: US gives Russia info on UK missiles - I45owl - 02-05-2011 12:52 PM
This pretty embarrassing. I supported the new START treaty on general grounds, but didn't expect this to be yet another way for our president to **** the Brits. I should have known better.