Exclusive: UK nuclear deterrent to cost 167 billion pounds, far more than expected

[bananas]

Source: Reuters

The overall cost of replacing and maintaining Britain's nuclear deterrent will reach 167 billion pounds ($256 billion), much more than expected, according to a lawmaker's and Reuters' calculations based on official figures.

If the figure is confirmed, it is likely to spur critics who say Britain should not be committing to spending billions of pounds on defense at a time when they say deep cuts under the government's "austerity" policies are hurting families.

Some military officials also say the money would be better spent on maintaining the army and on more conventional technology, which have also faced cuts.

Until now, Prime Minister David Cameron's government has said replacing the ageing fleet of four submarines which carry nuclear warheads to provide a continuous at-sea deterrent would cost an estimated 15-20 billion pounds.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/25/us-britain-defence-trident-exclusive-idUSKCN0SJ0EP20151025

[Demeter]

1. You get what you pay for

In this case, you get a boondoggle for the MIC.

[bemildred]

2. But nukes are so handy, you never know when you will need to say: "all options are on the table." nt

[Fred Sanders]

3. Nuclear weapons manufacture is the greatest money laundering scheme ever devised, and the

greatest scam ever invented the planet.

Not to mention the planet's greatest threat....nuclear weapons is terrorism gone nuclear.

What entity is the UK and others so frightened of that they would spend such treasure to defend from?

[valerief]

4. That figure is ALMOST a few months of war. nt

[progree]

5. In U.S. terms, with the same per-capita spending, that would be about $1.28 trillion

$256 billion doesn't sound all that awful, but the U.K. has only about a 64 million population, or 1/5 of the U.S. population, so only 1/5 as many people to share that spending burden.

Scaling that up to U.S. population levels (while maintaining the same per-capita spending), that comes to $256 billion * 5 = $1.28 Trillion. And that's not the entire defense spending, just the nuclear deterrent part of it.

[Nye Bevan]

6. The chances of Iran getting a nuclear bomb and nuking London are probably quite slim,

but even slimmer if the UK has a nuclear deterrent. Arguably this is money well spent.

[Herman4747]

7. More British Interest in Bombs and Submarines?

We have been through this before, with Sir Humphrey bravely fighting common sense: