(Europa) The Royal Navy

[Rob]

Key points
• Royal Navy prepares multi-purpose nuclear submarine to replace Trident
• Claims announcement delayed to avoid upsetting Labour voters
• Reports UK preparing to design new atomic warhead at Aldermaston

Key quote
"By making the submarine more versatile, we get more value for our money and don’t have billions of pounds of capital investment tied up in a submarines that can never be used for anything except blowing up the world" - MoD source

Story in full ROYAL Navy experts are preparing secret designs for a new generation of multi-purpose nuclear submarines to replace Britain’s Trident fleet at the end of the next decade.

The Scotsman has learned that work on a replacement for the Royal Navy’s nuclear deterrent is further advanced than had previously been known - despite claims by the government that no decision has been made on a successor for the four Faslane-based Trident submarines.

The aim of the plan is to give ministers the chance to accelerate work on the Trident’s successor immediately after the next election, to allow a replacement for the existing fleet of ballistic-missile-firing submarines to be entered into service around 2020.

http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=653502004