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Proceeding contribution from Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Conservative) in the House of Lords on Monday, 4 December 2006. It occurred during Ministerial statement on Nuclear Deterrent.


Nuclear Deterrent

My Lords, it must be right to replace our deterrent, and it has to be right that it is a submarine-borne system. However,£15 billion to £20 billion is an awful lot of money. The Minister says it is 3 per cent of the defence budget, but it is a lot more than 3 per cent of the procurement budget. It is not as if our troops are overblessed with wonderful equipment, and one does not want to see that situation continue. Would it not be more sensible to look at putting a nuclear warhead on a Tomahawk missile and firing it out of a hunter-killer submarine? That must surely be much cheaper and although the range would be less, it would give us the deterrent and it would be submarine-borne.


Secondary information

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
687 c987 
Session
2006-07
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
Nuclear weapons Procurement USA Nuclear submarines Trident
Link
View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk