Apocalypse soon?

[QQ]Last week the UK defence minister staked his reputation on Britain not starting an accidental nuclear war at midnight on 31 December next year.[QQ] That was the good news. The bad news is that the Royal Navy, which operates Britain's nuclear deterrent, has so far managed to fix only 11% of its information systems to cope with the millennium date roll-over.[QQ] These facts emerged last week in a press briefing to open the doors on the government's largest year 2000 programme.[QQ] The Ministry of Defence is examining more than 30,000 systems and types of equipment for millennium bugs.[QQ] Defence Secretary George Robertson said that the MoD is 'on track to correct 95% of these critical systems by the autumn of next year or shortly thereafter'.[QQ] The UK's nuclear weapons systems, he said, have been subject to the most searching examination. 'I am satisfied that there is no computer failure, year 2000 induced or not, which could result in a nuclear accident or the accidental use of nuclear weapons,' Robertson said.[QQ] The MoD started its millennium-compliance programme in 1996, the same year as other government departments.[QQ] Some 700 staff are working full-time on the #200 million project, which also employs outside consultants. Although the briefing was designed to assure the public that the MoD is on target to beat the millennium bug, some revelations could have the opposite effect.[QQ] Andrew Sleigh, director general of information and communication services at the MoD, revealed that the armed forces have not yet completed remedial work, but all are on schedule to do so next year.[QQ] The MoD's testing programme revealed that two thirds of systems needed remedial work. Problems have emerged in more than 1,000 systems that the ministry describes as critical to 'specific military capabilities', which is MoD-speak for weapons.[QQ] One such fault would have disabled the Army's Rapier anti-aircraft missile.[QQ] An additional 18,000 'non-critical' systems need remedial work.[QQ] The problem with Rapier emerged during checking for compliance. Sleigh said that while the missile itself was unaffected, a support system called Field Repair of Electrical Devices (Fred) failed when an internal clock switched from 1999 to 2000. 'Without attention, Fred would have failed and made the entire Rapier system inoperable,' Sleigh said. The bug has now been fixed.[QQ] The targets for the forces are the following:[QQ] Royal Navy: All ships, including submarines, are to be year 2000-compliant by August 1999[QQ] Army: All 'mission critical' systems are to be millennium compliant by September 1999. This includes combat vehicles, communications and weapons such as Rapier RAF: By 1 January 1999, all aircraft are due to be certified as safe to fly after the millennium. Weapons systems will take longer to check - it will be 31 May before the RAF expects all aircraft to be fully 'mission-capable' for the millennium.[QQ] The MoD needs to be ready in time: the government plans to rely on military force as a last resort in the event of civil emergencies caused by the bug.[QQ] Although Downing Street has denied planning martial law, Robertson has confirmed that any contingency plans would consider 'the possible use of military personnel'.[QQ] The minister said he saw no need to put the armed forces on special alert - but added that the need could arise.[QQ] The other big uncertainty is the readiness of other nations' military forces.[QQ] The MoD hosted a conference last month to exchange information with Nato allies. However, the state of nuclear missiles in the former Soviet arsenal remains unknown.[QQ] In the UK, Robertson need not worry too much about his reputation. If he's wrong about the UK not starting an accidental war in 12 months, few will survive to point fingers.