Britain ‘incapable’ of maintaining a nuclear submarine capability – ‘not fit for purpose’ | UK | News
Britain no longer has the capacity to run a capable nuclear submarine programme, a former senior naval officer has claimed. Rear Admiral Philip Mathias has spoken out about the “devastating” failures he believes have pushed the UK’s nuclear deterrent to the brink.
Rear Admiral Mathias, who once served as director of nuclear policy at the Ministry of Defense (MOD), emphasized that the country cannot produce attack submarines at a scale that would strain the crew and extend deployment time. While during the Cold War the “silent service” was deployed under the sea for approximately 70 days, today this period has increased to approximately 200 days. The latest Strategic Defense Review (SDR) highlighted the need to increase production capacity, but the former navy chief warned policymakers to change course as he called on them to withdraw from the Aukus agreement.
Aukus is a tripartite security partnership between Australia, the UK and the US, and 12 new nuclear submarines will be produced in the UK.
he said TelegramHe said: “Britain is no longer in a position to manage its nuclear submarine programme.”
“Dreadnought is late, Astute-class submarine delivery is delayed, there is a huge backlog of Astute-class maintenance and redeployment that continues to get worse, and SSN-Aukus is a submarine that will not be able to deliver what the UK or Australia need in terms of capability or timescale.
“Performance across all aspects of the program continues to deteriorate along every dimension. This is unprecedented in the nuclear submarine era.”
“This is a catastrophic failure in succession and leadership planning.”
The Royal Navy has a fleet of ships and submarines facing serious maintenance problems, with many stranded in port for years awaiting repairs.
HMS Artful and Audacious are currently undergoing long-term maintenance programmes, while HMS Astute and Anson remain in port.
Rear Admiral Mathias said the Dreadnought class, the UK’s next generation of nuclear weapons boats, should be “the last class of nuclear-powered submarines the UK builds”.
He also called for Aukus to be “cancelled now,” citing his preference for using technology to find “cost-effective” ways to achieve the same levels of capability using things like drones and smaller, unmanned submarines.
The former naval officer criticized governments in recent years for chronic underspending, which has led to reduced naval strength and inadequate delivery of nuclear submarine programmes.
An MOD spokesman told the Telegraph: “We remain committed to renewing and sustaining the nuclear deterrent, underlined by the largest sustained investment in defense spending since the end of the Cold War.
“The Strategic Defense Review has made clear the need for continued investment across the Defense Nuclear Enterprise. This will see the delivery of the most powerful attack submarines ever operated by the Royal Navy and this Parliament’s £15bn investment in our sovereign warhead programme.”
