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Realistically, adoption of the M51 instead of Trident would have involved a lot more French lead "cooperation," perhaps even a shared deterrent. On the face of it, it would be a lot cheaper for France and the UK to share a common fleet of SSBNs based in the old German U-boat pens at Brest. Say, 2 UK funded hulls and 3 French, probably with the adoption of French practices as they seem to have a higher operational tempo for submarines than the UK. In reality, Britain is now on its 3rd generation SSBN program and every time the French option has been quickly rejected. I'd argue that the financial and technical merits of French collaboration have been outweighed by the issues involving diplomacy and Britain's false national self image as an equal partner in the "Special Relationship." Sadly, we Americans tend to humor the British in this delusion while the French are too proud and altogether too blunt to play along. Personally, I'm just as happy to see the UK bear a portion of the Trident program. While I don't believe than 4 British SSBNs are as effective a deterrent as any 4 American SSBNs, or possibly even 4 French SSBNs, the British contribution is in addition to our own and not at the expense of it. However, if it ever comes down to another Suez Crisis, but on a strategic level, it might be time to demand a 2 key solution.
Realistically, adoption of the M51 instead of Trident would have involved a lot more French lead "cooperation," perhaps even a shared deterrent. On the face of it, it would be a lot cheaper for France and the UK to share a common fleet of SSBNs based in the old German U-boat pens at Brest. Say, 2 UK funded hulls and 3 French, probably with the adoption of French practices as they seem to have a higher operational tempo for submarines than the UK.
In reality, Britain is now on its 3rd generation SSBN program and every time the French option has been quickly rejected. I'd argue that the financial and technical merits of French collaboration have been outweighed by the issues involving diplomacy and Britain's false national self image as an equal partner in the "Special Relationship." Sadly, we Americans tend to humor the British in this delusion while the French are too proud and altogether too blunt to play along.
Personally, I'm just as happy to see the UK bear a portion of the Trident program. While I don't believe than 4 British SSBNs are as effective a deterrent as any 4 American SSBNs, or possibly even 4 French SSBNs, the British contribution is in addition to our own and not at the expense of it. However, if it ever comes down to another Suez Crisis, but on a strategic level, it might be time to demand a 2 key solution.
