Originally Posted by
pax britanica
the French as they have an INDEPENDENT nuclear weapons capability whereas ours is under US control
Oft quoted but what is meant by this?
It's true that our Trident missiles are selected at random from a common pool that is held in the USA that also 'supplies' the US Navy. But once in our boats they are completely independent; indeed there are fewer safeguards to launching one from a Royal Navy boat than a US Navy one due to our decision to omit a Permissive Action Link. And as stated above, the 'physics package' is ours.