The Defence Secretary has been criticised for a launching "meaningless" personal attack on the Labour leader after accusing Ed Miliband of being a "backstabber".
Michael Fallon said Mr Miliband must not be allowed to do some "grubby deal" with the SNP over Trident and trade away Britain's nuclear deterrent.
He said Mr Miliband had "stabbed his own brother in the back" to become Labour leader and would be willing to "stab the United Kingdom in the back" to become prime minister.
He made his comments ahead of an announcement of the Tories' pledge to maintain a continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent by building a fleet of four Successor Ballistic Missile Submarines if the Tories win power on 7 May.
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Challenged on Sky News over his comments in The Times ahead of the speech, Mr Fallon said: "We're not slinging mud. This is an issue of trust and character.
"We've made it clear we are going to renew those submarines. If you vote Labour you could end up, because of the SNP position, with a coalition where Ed Miliband does some grubby deal behind the scenes with Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP.
"We need to get that out into the open so people know, in four weeks' time, exactly what they are voting for."
Labour accused the Tories of resorting to the "language of smear" and denied there would be any deal over Trident.
UKIP economic spokesman Patrick O'Flynn criticised Mr Fallon and said: "We think it is a bit odd that Michael Fallon should be trying to link defence of the realm to the way in which Ed Miliband became Labour Party leader.
"That personal attack, to me, speaks of a Defence Secretary who is trying to distract from the fact that Conservatives are not pledging to fully resource our armed forces, they are not meeting the Nato 2% commitment. We would commit totally to upgrading Trident. We can afford to do so."
The Labour leader spoke of how his relationship with his brother had become "strained" after the Labour leadership battle and had been very hard for the family after being questioned on the Sky News/Channel 4 Battle For Number 10 programme.
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With the polls suggesting the SNP could be the third largest party in another hung parliament, Ms Sturgeon has made clear that the price of their support for Labour after the election would include scrapping Trident.
Speaking in her second televised debate in 24 hours on Wednesday night, Ms Sturgeon said the SNP would never vote in the Commons to renew Trident nuclear weapons.
Labour's shadow defence secretary Vernon Coaker said: "As Ed Miliband has already made crystal clear national security is not a matter for negotiation. We support renewal of Trident along with a renewed focus on multilateral disarmament.
"Labour is committed to maintaining a minimum, credible, independent nuclear deterrent, delivered through a continuous at-sea deterrent. This is not up for negotiation with any party."
"The Tories are resorting to the language of smear. They are increasingly desperate as their campaign lurches on in confusion and chaos."
Mr Fallon said that Britain has kept a ballistic missile submarine at sea to deter a nuclear attack for 46 years.
He added that, with as many as 17,000 nuclear weapons around the world and concerning moves from Russia and North Korea, renewing Trident is "the only responsible choice".
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