Replacing Trident will bankrupt the defence budget

Sir, Your excellent Analysis article on replacing Britain’s nuclear deterrent falls down by accepting the Ministry of Defence’s flawed line that a submarine-based cruise missile solution would be more expensive than like-for-like Trident replacement (“The price of deterrence”, January 10).

The reality is that a cruise missile-based solution could be achieved for around one quarter the cost of Trident replacement (for £5bn rather than £20bn-plus).

All three essential elements of a cruise missile-based submarine deterrent already exist (the missiles, the submarines and a basis warhead design).

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