Latest news with #strategicdefense
Bloomberg
28-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Indonesia, France Set to Sign Defense Letter During Macron Visit
Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto and France's President Emmanuel Macron are poised to sign a letter of intent to strengthen a defense partnership that has already led to the Southeast Asian nation purchasing billions of dollars' worth of French weaponry. The pact will be signed during bilateral talks Wednesday in Jakarta, Indonesian Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin told reporters. The cooperation will focus on items such as 'strategic defense equipment,' he said.
Telegraph
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
France might prove to be Britain's nuclear saviour
With the return of war to the European continent, and international tensions at their highest in a generation, voices in the UK military and government are now reassessing nuclear posture and debating whether Britain needs tactical nuclear weapons again. It may be deeply disturbing that such considerations must be contemplated but giving a British prime minister more options in time of crisis is crucial. The forthcoming Strategic Defence Review may weigh in on the question but the solutions will ultimately come down to both time and money. The MoD's current long-range missile development programme is concentrating on conventional firepower, mainly to replace the subsonic Storm Shadow cruise missile with something faster and more survivable. There is no programme of record for a tactical nuclear missile and Britain's hypersonic missile development is still in its infancy when compared with other nations. The British strategic nuclear deterrent is based on four Vanguard-class nuclear-powered submarines equipped with up to 16 Trident multi-warhead nuclear missiles. At least one submarine is on permanent ocean patrol at all times. Trident is the ultimate weapon envisaged to deter a massive attack on Britain. Its purpose is to dissuade because if it is used, it will likely be Armageddon for both attacker and defender. However, the UK no longer possesses an 'escalation ladder' to use the defence parlance. Following the end of the Cold War, in 1998 Britain retired all of its tactical nuclear weapons, mainly the freefall WE177 nuclear bomb. These 'low-yield' weapons were intended to blunt or stop a massive Soviet armoured invasion of the West if conventional means failed. Some are now beginning to ask if having all the nuclear eggs in one basket is wise. Most of the declared nuclear powers still maintain a way to deliver tactical nuclear weapons as a means to dissuade a hostile power from launching a less than strategic strike which would not justify massive retaliation. Whether this strategy would work has thankfully yet to be tested although war games conducted by the Pentagon in Washington appear to indicate that escalation to a complete nuclear warhead exchange is difficult to stop once the 'ladder' is climbed. But governments need options in time of crisis. Currently for Britain, in the event of a nuclear standoff, it will be all in or nothing. Russia and China can at short notice field hundreds of tactical nuclear weapons, affording them an extra rung on the ladder in the event of conflict. The US keeps a small stockpile of low-yield nuclear bombs at airbases in Germany and Italy but there are no guarantees these will not be withdrawn in future. Although it's believed that there may be a few low-yield Trident warheads in every submarine which could be launched short of a total nuclear exchange, doing this would reveal the submarine's location to the enemy – a less than optimal option. France however, never wavered in keeping all its options open. Its supersonic, ramjet powered ASMP missile, carried by Mirage and Rafale fighter jets, is a weapon with a range of some 600 kilometres and capable of delivering a single nuclear warhead of between 100 and 300 kilotons yield. The latest iteration of the weapon, the ASMPA-R has just entered service with the French Air Force and will hold the line until a next-generation, hypersonic missile enters service in another ten to fifteen years. If the UK decides it needs tactical nukes again, might cooperation with France be the way forward? Britain's current tactical missile systems are already heavily dependent on MBDA, the UK/France/Germany manufacturing consortium. Would the French be willing to offer up the MBDA supplied ASMPA-R as a weapon for the UK? Britain would need to provide its own small warhead (for which it has the proven expertise) and integration on the Eurofighter Typhoon would also be required (admittedly a complex task) but this would still likely be cheaper and faster than a cold-start development programme for an entirely new missile and then its subsequent integration and testing. Such cooperation would be a strong reaffirmation of the Lancaster House Treaties signed by Britain and France in 2010 and which already contain protocols on weapons development. Given the shifting geopolitical winds, European defence and stability may in the near future depend on a much deeper nuclear understanding between Britain and France. Whether the political will exists in either country remains to be seen.
