President Obama and the UK Labour and Coalition governments have all backed the renewed momentum for serious progress towards a world free of nuclear weapons, whilst the UK finds itself embarked on a controversial and expensive programme to renew its Trident nuclear weapons system. What does the UK process tell about the prospects for disarmament?

Nuclear submarine design resources at the shipyards, their suppliers, and the Navy may erode for lack of demand. Analysis of alternative workforce and workload management options suggests that the U.S. Navy should stretch out the design of the next submarine class and start it early or sustain design resources above the current demand, so that the next class may be designed on time, on budget, and with low risk.

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"To preserve its ability to design, build, and support complex warships and submarines, the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) will need to preserve and sustain several key technical skills in the maritime domain, particularly those of designers and engineers at various stages of surface ship and submarine acquisition and support. Its current naval acquisition programme, comprising several classes of vessels (such as the Astute-class attack submarine and the Future Aircraft Carrier), has brought forward questions regarding the MOD's ability to design, build, and support the intended fleet size. Building on prior RAND research, this monograph explores in greater detail the need for and retention of specific technical skills in the UK's naval industrial base. It investigates the relationship between the demand created by the MOD's surface ship and submarine acquisition programme and the technical workforce needed to design, build, and support those war vessels. The results reveal that, although the MOD has taken into account the need for these skills, its future naval programme likely will have to be modified or augmented to sustain these technical skills in the long term. In particular, the MOD needs to nurture design and engineering skills to bridge current and future gaps as its naval acquisition programme moves forward."--Publisher's website.