US to take over UK nuclear weapons
Thu, 02 Jun 2011 10:05:59 GMT
The controversial US arms dealer, Lockheed Martin will lead a consortium of multinational private firms to run the UK’s nuclear bomb base at Coulport on the Clyde.
British defence ministers have decided to give the administration of the highly sensitive job of managing more than 200 Trident nuclear warheads, and arming the Royal
Navy’s submarines to US arms dealer within the next year.
Trade unionists and disarmament campaigners as well as Scotland National Party (SNP) has condemned the decision and urged for a rethink.
They described the decision as a cost-saving, job-cutting “kick in the teeth to the workforce” that will put nuclear safety at risk.
Up to 200 Coulport workers have been told that they will be seconded from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to a newly formed private-sector consortium called ABL.
ABL brings together AWE – which runs the Aldermaston nuclear weapons factory in Berkshire – Babcock, the British engineering company and US-owned Lockheed Martin Strategic Systems UK.
AWE is itself a consortium involving Lockheed Martin; another big US firm, Jacobs Engineering; and the UK management privatisation company, Serco.
According to the MoD’s detailed internal plan leaked to the Sunday Herald, ABL will be granted a contract to run Coulport for 15 years.
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