Media: US, UK plan indefinite extension of nuclear weapons treaty
According to The Financial Times newspaper, the United States and the United Kingdom plan to extend indefinitely the Mutual Defence Agreement (MDA) signed in 1958 in order to develop co-operation in the field of nuclear weapons: the exchange of technologies and programmes, TASS reports
According to media reports, such a decision by Washington and London ‘scraps the agreement’s previous 10-year limit’ and is due to the fact that both countries embark on costly modernisations of their deterrent to counter arms proliferation by adversaries.
It is reported that the impetus for this was the decision of Washington and London to transfer data and equipment for the operation of nuclear submarines to Canberra. Moreover, according to UK Defence Secretary John Healy, the parties took a similar step to ‘strengthen the agreement by securing continuing co-operation’.
