France has offered to create a joint UK-French nuclear deterrent by sharing submarine patrols. Officials from both countries have discussed how a deterrence-sharing scheme might work but Britain has so far opposed the idea on the grounds that such pooling of sovereignty would be politically unacceptable.
Britain and France each maintain “continuous at-sea deterrence,” which involves running at least one nuclear-armed submarine submerged and undetected at any given time. It is a hugely expensive undertaking, and its usefulness in a post-cold war world has long been questioned by disarmament campaigners.
Britain’s independent deterrent, based on Trident missiles carried by submarines, could cost the country up to £100 billion (US$151 billion), according to some estimates, once planned modernization to the fleet has been completed.
France also maintains a four-submarine Strategic Oceanic Force, with each submarine armed with 16 missiles.
Last September British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Britain’s submarine fleet could be reduced from four to three as a gesture towards disarmament, but the total financial savings were reported as relatively small.
“We have talked about the idea of sharing continuity at sea as part of a larger discussion about sharing defense burdens,” a French official said.
A British official confirmed that the French government had raised the idea of shared “continuous at-sea deterrence.”
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Brown discussed the idea when Sarkozy visited London in March 2008. The joint declaration afterwards simply said the two countries would “foster our bilateral dialogue on nuclear deterrence.”
The same month, Sarkozy hinted at the potential for shared deterrence in a speech at Cherbourg.
“Together with the United Kingdom, we have taken a major decision: It is our assessment that there can be no situation in which the vital interests of either of our two nations could be threatened without the vital interests of the other also being threatened,” he said.
Sarkozy and Brown met again in Downing Street last Friday and “discussed some issues on the nuclear agenda,” according to Downing Street.
Following an underwater collision between French and British nuclear-armed submarines last February, French Defense Minister Herve Morin said the two navies would consider coordinating patrols.
“Between France and Britain, there are things we can do together ... one of the solutions would be to think about the patrol zones,” he said.
It is unclear whether Morin’s offer was taken up by the Royal Navy. The Sarkozy proposal would go much further — Britain and France would take turns to maintain an underwater vigil.
Proposals for closer UK-French defense cooperation have been driven by Paris, British defense officials emphasized yesterday.
Britain and France could synchronize nuclear deterrent patrols and cooperate in the deployment of surface fleet task forces, sources say. However, British officials played down the possibility of formal agreements on the nuclear deterrent — or on sharing each other’s aircraft carriers.
“We could not make a full commitment,” a defense source said, referring to the deployment of carriers. He referred to the British intervention in Sierra Leone 10 years ago and Iraq. France did not “want to have anything to do with” either operation, the source said.
However, both governments say they recognize the potential scope for much closer cooperation both in terms of strategy and in procuring new weapons systems.
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