Management of UK Nuclear Arsenal

(Scotland) The British are considering bids by U.S. companies to take over management of the United Kingdom's nuclear arsenal.

Private companies led by the controversial US arms giant, Lockheed Martin, are bidding to take over the running of Britain’s top-secret nuclear bomb base on the Clyde, the Sunday Herald can reveal.

The Royal Naval Armaments Depot at Coulport on Loch Long, managed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) since the 1960s, is likely to be privatised in the next few months to try to save money. The heavily-guarded base is responsible for looking after the UK nuclear stockpile of more than 200 Trident warheads, and arming the four submarines that carry them.

Coulport on the Clyde, Royal Navy nuclear base

But the plan has already been greeted by a chorus of angry protests from trades unions, politicians and anti-nuclear groups which fear for public safety, jobs, costs and the independence of the UK’s nuclear weapons from the US. Questions have also been raised about the management record of Lockheed Martin.

“The Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, is not just planning to privatise Coulport, he wants to hand Britain’s nuclear store over to American companies,” said John Ainslie, co-ordinator of the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

“He is willing to give the US full control over British nuclear weapons. If this goes ahead, then the Royal Navy should lower the Union Jack which flutters above Loch Long and replace it with the Stars and Stripes.”

Privatize to save money, eh? What a great idea! Maybe Washington coupled ponder it.