Britain is changing its policy so that it can use nuclear weapons in response to emerging technology

LONDON – Britain has changed its defense policy, which may allow it to use nuclear weapons in response to “emerging technologies”.

The 111-page integrated defense magazine, published on Tuesday, included a subtle line about when Britain “reserves the right” to use nuclear weapons.

It is said that Britain could use nuclear weapons if other countries use “weapons of mass destruction” against it. Such weapons include “emerging technologies that could have a comparable impact” with chemical, biological or other nuclear weapons.

Some British newspapers report that “emerging technologies” include cyber attacks, citing people inside the defense, but the report does not say so explicitly. The British government did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.

Tom Plant, director of the Royal United Services Institute think tank, told CNBC: “I wouldn’t interpret it to include cyber attacks in isolation, no.”

He added that “the understanding of what constitutes emerging technology in government is not evenly distributed – certainly cybernetics does not ’emerge’, it has appeared quite substantially”.

In any case, Plant considers the language change to be significant.

“I think it’s an indicator that there is potential in the future for combinations of technologies and behaviors that create emerging risks – which probably wouldn’t arise through the development of any isolated technology – that are incredibly difficult to predict and that there is at least one several of these emerging challenges still unknown to rival ADM in the threat it poses, ”he said.

The UK’s nuclear program, known as Trident, was set up in 1980 and now costs the UK around £ 2 billion ($ 2.8 billion) a year to operate.

The Integrated Defense Review confirmed that the UK allows a self-imposed cap on its stockpile of nuclear weapons to rise to 260, abandoning the previous cap of 225 warheads, as well as the current reduction target of 180 by mid-2020.

“This reverses the course of the UK’s consistent post-Cold War nuclear reductions and runs counter to previous assurances that the UK’s existing nuclear deterrent replacement program would not add to the number of nuclear warheads in service,” he wrote. Plant in a blog post.

He added that the changes are presented as a reaction to a changed international security environment.

“The government paints a picture of a world with growing international competition and growing threats from Russia, China, North Korea and Iran,” Plant said. “In his view, opponents in Britain are increasing the variety and quantity of nuclear capabilities and see nuclear weapons as a means of coercion, deterrence and even the fight against war.”

While Britain seems to be expanding the scenarios in which it could use nuclear weapons in a feasible way, US President Joe Biden said in his election campaign that the “sole purpose” of nuclear weapons should be to deter or retaliate against another nuclear attack. .

The Integrated Defense Review also highlighted a new “inclination” towards the Indo-Pacific region.

“By 2030, we will be deeply committed to the Indo-Pacific as a European partner with the widest and most integrated presence in support of mutually beneficial trade, security and common values,” the document said.

Britain is said to be pushing the Indo-Pacific region in part in response to “geopolitical and geoeconomic changes”, including China’s global “power and assertiveness”, as well as the region’s growing importance for “global prosperity and security”.

The report refers to partnerships with countries, including India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.