In Europe, Britain’s National Audit Office has released a report on the United Kingdom’s Future Nuclear Deterrent Capability. It is an interesting read. The main conclusion is that:
There is a challenging timetable to meet if continuous at sea deterrence is to be maintained. The critical path for provision of a future deterrent capability is the delivery of the nuclear-powered submarine platform in time to meet an in-service date of 2024. But there are also possible time constraints from other areas of the programme. There is currently little scope for incorporating time contingency in the overall programme to deal with slippage in any of these areas.
The Office also says that a replacement cannot be made without the help of the United States, which produces its own sets of challenges. In particular, the project timeline becomes quite inelastic.
Have a read here.