Britain is no longer capable of running a capable nuclear submarine programme, a former senior naval officer has claimed. Rear Admiral Philip Mathias spoke out on “catastrophic” failures which he believes has driven the UK’s nuclear deterrent to the brink.
Rear-Adml Mathias, who once served as a director of nuclear policy at the Ministry of Defence (MOD), highlighted the country’s inability to produce attack submarines at the scale required for putting strain on crews and extending the length of deployments. During the Cold War, “the silent service” would deploy below the seas for around 70 days at a time, but this has risen to around 200 days in the present. The recent Strategic Defence Review, (SDR) highlighted the need to expand production capacity, but the former naval chief warned decisionmakers to change course as he called for them to withdraw from the Aukus agreement.
Aukus is a trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States which will see 12 new nuclear submarines produced in the UK.
He told the Telegraph: “The UK is no longer capable of managing a nuclear submarine programme,” he said.
“Dreadnought is late, Astute class submarine delivery is getting later, there is a massive backlog in Astute class maintenance and refitting, which continues to get worse, and SSN-Aukus is a submarine which is not going to deliver what the UK or Australia needs in terms of capability or timescale.
“Performance across all aspects of the programme continues to get worse in every dimension. This is an unprecedented situation in the nuclear submarine age.
“It is a catastrophic failure of succession and leadership planning.”
The Royal Navy has a fleet of ships and submarines facing severe maintenance issues, leaving many stuck in port for years as they await repairs.
HMS Artful and Audacious are currently undergoing lengthy maintenance programmes whilst HMS Astute and Anson also remain in port.
Rear-Adml Mathias said Britain’s next generation of nuclear weapon boats, the Dreadnought class, should be the “last class of nuclear-powered submarines that the UK builds”.
He also called on Aukus to be “cancelled now” indicating a preference for using technology to find “cost-effective” means of achieving the same levels of capability, by utilising things such as drones and smaller, unmanned submarines.
The former naval officer lambasted governments of recent decades for chronic underspending which have seen naval forces decline and nuclear submarine programmes delivered poorly.
An MOD spokesman told the Telegraph: “We are unwavering in our commitment to renewing and maintaining the nuclear deterrent underlined by the biggest sustained investment into defence spending since the end of the Cold War.
“The Strategic Defence Review made clear the need for sustained investment across the Defence Nuclear Enterprise. This will see delivery of the most powerful attack submarines ever operated by the Royal Navy and the investment of £15bn this Parliament into our sovereign warhead programme.”