Britain may test its nuclear warhead technology in France

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Britain and France could share nuclear testing site​

A half-a century long ban on the United Kingdom sharing nuclear secrets with countries other than the United States could be about to come to an end.

At a summit due to take place in three weeks’ time, British ministers will discuss with their French counterparts a plan under which the two European Union nations would share nuclear testing facilities.

The proposal would almost certainly involve technology from Britain’s 160 nuclear warheads being tested in a laboratory based in France.

Under a convention in place since the Cold War, the UK is forbidden from sharing its nuclear secrets with another country – this is because the British Trident missile is based on American technology.

Ministry of Defence sources stressed however that the use of the French testing facility , the Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique, would not involve the sharing of warheads or technology.

The plan would save the Government significant sums, because although the French would be paid for the use of the testing site, the MoD would be spared the much greater expense of building its own facility.

British officials are understood to have consulted with the US about the move. A source told the Financial Times: “If we don’t share some of these capabilities we will lose them.

“But making progress is easier now than it was. France is in Nato and many of the issues that divided us in the past – such as the Iraq war – have now disappeared.”

Britain and France could share nuclear testing site - Telegraph

 

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Very, very misleading title !

 

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Very, very misleading title !

You wouldn't have said that had you read the article completely!

 

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Britain, France agree on joint nuclear weapons tests

London, Nov 2 (IANS) Britain and France will sign an agreement for joint development and testing of nuclear weapons, the BBC reported Tuesday.

According to the agreement, one centre will be set up in Britain to develop technology and another in France to carry out testing.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will also outline plans, at a London summit, for a joint army expeditionary force, the report said.

“This summit marks a deepening of the UK-France bilateral relationship. Ours is now a strategic partnership tackling together the biggest challenges facing our two countries,” a Downing Street spokesperson was quoted as saying.

The summit comes two weeks after the British government announced cuts to its armed forces, in the first strategic defence review since 1998, as part of savings aimed at reducing the country’s budget deficit.

It is understood that each country will still control its own warheads, and that nuclear secrets will not be shared.

Both the countries have also agreed to keep at least one aircraft carrier at sea between them at any time. Each will be able to use the other’s carrier in some form, certainly for training and possibly operations, the BBC said.

Meanwhile, France is to use British A400M fuelling aircraft when there is spare capacity, with plans in place for common maintenance and training.

Joint work on drones, mine counter-measures and satellite communications is also proposed.

In a statement, the French presidency said a test centre in Valduc, eastern France, would start operations in 2014.

The Valduc laboratory would work with a French-British research centre based in Aldermaston, Berkshire, it added.

Together the facilities would involve “several dozen” French and British experts and cost both countries several million euros.

Scientists from both countries would be able to ensure the “viability, safety and security in the long term of our nuclear arsenals”, the statement said.

Cameron told MPs Monday: “I do seriously believe that this link-up with the French over defence is in the long term interests of both our countries.

“And to those who worry that this might in some way lead to… European armies, that is not the point. The point is to enhance sovereign capability by two like-minded countries being able to work together.”

Britain’s shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy was quoted as saying: “We share common threats with countries such as France, from terrorism to privacy to cyber-attack. Deepening military ties is an essential part of modern defence policy. Interdependence, however, is different from dependence, and binding legal treaties pose some big questions for the government.”

Murphy also questioned whether Britain was entering “an era where we are reliant on our allies to fill in the gaps in the government’s defence policy”.