May grilled over ‘missile failure’

LONDON: The British government is being accused of concealing the failure of an unarmed ballistic missile launch ahead of a debate in parliament over whether to refurbish the country’s ageing Trident nuclear launching system.

Prime Minister Theresa May refused to say on Sunday whether she knew about an unarmed Trident missile that reportedly failed when it was test-fired off the coast of Florida last year.

Ms May said she had “absolute faith in our Trident missiles” in a television interview with the BBC, but she would not say whether she had known about the failure or whether, as The Sunday Times of London reported, it had been covered up by Downing Street under her predecessor, David Cameron, shortly before the referendum on Britain’s exit from the European Union.

Ms May did not mention any missile failure in her first major speech to parliament on July 18, when she persuaded parliament to spend up to £40 billion on four new submarines to keep Britain’s nuclear deterrent up-to-date.

“There are tests that take place all the time, regularly, for our nuclear deterrence,” she said on Sunday. “What we were talking about in that debate that took place was about the future.”

The Sunday Times reported that the Trident II D5 missile, which was designed to carry a nuclear warhead but was unarmed for the test, had veered off course after being fired from HMS Vengeance, one of Britain’s four aging nuclear-armed submarines.

The British navy had not performed such a test for four years because of the expense of the missile, but had carried out tests in 2000, 2005, 2009 and 2012, all of which had been successful and publicised by the Ministry of Defence. The current test took place after the submarine had been refitted with new missile launch equipment and upgraded computer systems.

Replacing Trident has been controversial in Britain because of the cost and because the current leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, long an anti-nuclear campaigner, is opposed to retaining Britain’s nuclear deterrent, while his party’s official position has been to retain and renew it.

“It’s a pretty catastrophic error when a missile goes in the wrong direction, and while it wasn’t armed, goodness knows what the consequences of that could have been,” Mr Corbyn said on Sunday.

Speaking to Sky News, he said: “We understand the prime minister chose not to inform parliament, and instead it came out through the media.” He repeated his belief that Britain should commit to nuclear disarmament.

Kevan Jones, a Labour member of parliament and a former defence minister, called for an inquiry into the failed missile test.

“The UK’s independent nuclear deterrent is a vital cornerstone for the nation’s defence,” he said. It is likely that parliament will ask Defence Secretary Michael Fallon to answer questions about the report.