Word: nato
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...collision between a British nuclear-powered submarine carrying multiple nuclear warheads and a French nuclear submarine armed with a similar payload may have been the result of lack of communication between France and NATO nations, according to a former British submarine commander whose revelations were partially corroborated by an official at the French navy...
...Sometime on Feb. 3 or 4, the British HMS Vanguard and France's Le Triomphant collided in the mid-Atlantic Ocean. The accident probably happened because the two submarines were not aware of each other. NATO operates a traffic-control system that alerts allied nations to the deployment zones of friendly submarines. The system is designed to avoid collisions. But because France is not part of NATO's military command structure, it does not provide information on the location of its mobile nuclear arms to that system, according to Julian Ferguson, who commanded one of Britain's four V-class...
...There is a system for operating areas that are reserved for American, British, Norwegian, Dutch and Canadian communities, and if you want to go into someone's area of influence, you tell them what you are doing. But if you are not in the NATO military structure, you don't have to do that," says Ferguson...
...French navy confirmed to TIME that it does not give the positions of its nuclear-armed submarines to NATO forces. "France does not supply any information regarding the position of its nuclear arms or submarines carrying them because France considers its nuclear arsenal the most vital element in its defense capabilities," said Jérome Erulin, a spokesman for the French Navy...
...NATO sources told TIME that France is not alone in withholding information about nuclear-armed submarines - the Brits and Americans keep the locations of their strategic deterrents secret too. In a prepared statement, a NATO spokesman said, "France uses the same procedures with regard to its submarine fleet as all other allies...