tridentreplacement.net

Hansard source - 22 July 2010 : Column 484W
 
Mr Havard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what the terms of reference are for the Trident value for money review; what the timetable is for that review; which Departments will contribute to that review; which independent organisations will be consulted under that review; by what mechanisms that consultation will be undertaken; and whether that review will include consideration of the option of extending the life of the current Vanguard submarines beyond an additional five years; [9569]
 
(2) what account the (a) Strategic Defence and Security Review and (b) Comprehensive Spending Review will take of the Trident value for money review. [9571]

Strategy Page source
 
There is unrest in the U.S. Navy over what the next class of SSBNs (nuclear subs armed with ballistic missiles) will be, the ones that will replace the current 15,000 ton Ohios. Based on 1980s technology, the Ohios have been upgraded over the years, but are showing their age. The replacement SSBN design will be quite different. But there is some debate in the navy over how the huge cost ($80 billion) of designing ($20 billion) and building ($5 billion each for 12 subs) the new boats will be handled. Including development costs, each new SSBN will cost $6.7 billion. The SSBNs are part of the nuclear deterrent, a capability that is more persuasion than actual application. Meanwhile, the navy needs new carriers, amphibious and surface warships, plus aircraft and munitions for regular use dealing with actual, not theoretical, problems. Thus the case for building fewer, cheaper and less capable SSBNs, and cutting the program cost in half.
 

Department of Defense source
 
Teradyne, Inc., North Reading, Mass., is being awarded a $10,600,000, five-year firm-fixed-price commercial basic ordering agreement for procurement of Teradyne Spectrum 9100 tester support. Teradyne Spectrum 9100 testers are used for the development of test program sets (TPSs) for Trident fire control, missile, and guidance electronic modules that are being redesigned as part of the D5 Life Extension program. The TPSs will also be used for production testing of modules and for service life evaluation. The proposed acquisition is for additional testers, spare equipment, instrument calibration, training, and maintenance contracts that are required to maintain the necessary tester availability. Work will be performed in North Reading, Mass., and is expected to be completed by April 2015. Contract funds in the amount of $95,040 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, Crane, Ind., is the contracting activity (N00024-09-C-6317). 

House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee
Global Security: UK-US Relations
Sixth Report of Session 2009–10