UGM-133 Trident II
Encyclopedia
UGM-133 Trident II, or Trident D5 is a submarine-launched ballistic missile
, built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems
in Sunnyvale, California
, and deployed with the US Navy and Royal Navy
. It was first deployed in 1990, and is still in service.
Trident II was designed to be more sophisticated than Trident I, and have a greater payload capacity. It is accurate enough to be used as a first strike
weapon. All three stages of the Trident II are made of graphite epoxy, making the missile much lighter. Trident II missiles are carried by US Ohio class
and British Vanguard class
submarines. was the first submarine to be armed with Trident IIs. Trident II missiles are currently carried by fourteen Ohio class, and four Vanguard class SSBNs. There were 135 consecutive successful test flights of the D5 missile since 1989 with the most recent being from USS Nevada
on 1 March 2011 as the concluding action of US Trident D5 DASO-22
UGM-133 Trident II, or Trident D5 is a submarine-launched ballistic missile
, built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems
in Sunnyvale, California
, and deployed with the US Navy and Royal Navy
. It was first deployed in 1990, and is still in service.
Trident II was designed to be more sophisticated than Trident I, and have a greater payload capacity. It is accurate enough to be used as a first strike
weapon. All three stages of the Trident II are made of graphite epoxy, making the missile much lighter. Trident II missiles are carried by US Ohio class
and British Vanguard class
submarines. was the first submarine to be armed with Trident IIs. Trident II missiles are currently carried by fourteen Ohio class, and four Vanguard class SSBNs. There were 135 consecutive successful test flights of the D5 missile since 1989 with the most recent being from USS Nevada
on 1 March 2011 as the concluding action of US Trident D5 DASO-22
UGM-133 Trident II, or Trident D5 is a submarine-launched ballistic missile
, built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems
in Sunnyvale, California
, and deployed with the US Navy and Royal Navy
. It was first deployed in 1990, and is still in service.
Trident II was designed to be more sophisticated than Trident I, and have a greater payload capacity. It is accurate enough to be used as a first strike
weapon. All three stages of the Trident II are made of graphite epoxy, making the missile much lighter. Trident II missiles are carried by US Ohio class
and British Vanguard class
submarines. was the first submarine to be armed with Trident IIs. Trident II missiles are currently carried by fourteen Ohio class, and four Vanguard class SSBNs. There were 135 consecutive successful test flights of the D5 missile since 1989 with the most recent being from USS Nevada
on 1 March 2011 as the concluding action of US Trident D5 DASO-22
The development contract for Trident II was issued in October 1983. The first Trident II launch occurred in January 1987, and the first submarine launch was attempted by USS Tennessee (SSBN-734, the first D-5 ship of the Ohio class) in March 1989. The launch attempt failed because the plume of water following the missile rose to greater height than expected, resulting in water being in the nozzle when the motor ignited. Once the problem was understood relatively simple changes were very quickly made but the problem delayed the IOC (Initial Operational Capability) of Trident II until March 1990.
Submarine-launched ballistic missile
A submarine-launched ballistic missile is a ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead that can be launched from submarines. Modern variants usually deliver multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles each of which carries a warhead and allows a single launched missile to...
, built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems
Lockheed Martin Space Systems
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company is one of the four major business divisions of Lockheed Martin. It is headquartered in Denver, Colorado with additional sites in Sunnyvale, California; Newtown, Pennsylvania; Huntsville, Alabama; and elsewhere in the US and UK...
in Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area...
, and deployed with the US Navy and Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. It was first deployed in 1990, and is still in service.
Trident II was designed to be more sophisticated than Trident I, and have a greater payload capacity. It is accurate enough to be used as a first strike
First strike
In nuclear strategy, a first strike is a preemptive surprise attack employing overwhelming force. First strike capability is a country's ability to defeat another nuclear power by destroying its arsenal to the point where the attacking country can survive the weakened retaliation while the opposing...
weapon. All three stages of the Trident II are made of graphite epoxy, making the missile much lighter. Trident II missiles are carried by US Ohio class
Ohio class submarine
The Ohio class is a class of nuclear-powered submarines used by the United States Navy. The United States has 18 Ohio-class submarines:...
and British Vanguard class
Vanguard class submarine
The Vanguard class are the Royal Navy's current nuclear ballistic missile submarines , each armed with up to 16 Trident II Submarine-launched ballistic missiles...
submarines. was the first submarine to be armed with Trident IIs. Trident II missiles are currently carried by fourteen Ohio class, and four Vanguard class SSBNs. There were 135 consecutive successful test flights of the D5 missile since 1989 with the most recent being from USS Nevada
USS Nevada (SSBN-733)
USS Nevada is a United States Navy ballistic missile submarine that has been in commission since 1986. She is the fourth ship of the U.S...
on 1 March 2011 as the concluding action of US Trident D5 DASO-22
UGM-133 Trident II, or Trident D5 is a submarine-launched ballistic missile
Submarine-launched ballistic missile
A submarine-launched ballistic missile is a ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead that can be launched from submarines. Modern variants usually deliver multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles each of which carries a warhead and allows a single launched missile to...
, built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems
Lockheed Martin Space Systems
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company is one of the four major business divisions of Lockheed Martin. It is headquartered in Denver, Colorado with additional sites in Sunnyvale, California; Newtown, Pennsylvania; Huntsville, Alabama; and elsewhere in the US and UK...
in Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area...
, and deployed with the US Navy and Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. It was first deployed in 1990, and is still in service.
Trident II was designed to be more sophisticated than Trident I, and have a greater payload capacity. It is accurate enough to be used as a first strike
First strike
In nuclear strategy, a first strike is a preemptive surprise attack employing overwhelming force. First strike capability is a country's ability to defeat another nuclear power by destroying its arsenal to the point where the attacking country can survive the weakened retaliation while the opposing...
weapon. All three stages of the Trident II are made of graphite epoxy, making the missile much lighter. Trident II missiles are carried by US Ohio class
Ohio class submarine
The Ohio class is a class of nuclear-powered submarines used by the United States Navy. The United States has 18 Ohio-class submarines:...
and British Vanguard class
Vanguard class submarine
The Vanguard class are the Royal Navy's current nuclear ballistic missile submarines , each armed with up to 16 Trident II Submarine-launched ballistic missiles...
submarines. was the first submarine to be armed with Trident IIs. Trident II missiles are currently carried by fourteen Ohio class, and four Vanguard class SSBNs. There were 135 consecutive successful test flights of the D5 missile since 1989 with the most recent being from USS Nevada
USS Nevada (SSBN-733)
USS Nevada is a United States Navy ballistic missile submarine that has been in commission since 1986. She is the fourth ship of the U.S...
on 1 March 2011 as the concluding action of US Trident D5 DASO-22
UGM-133 Trident II, or Trident D5 is a submarine-launched ballistic missile
Submarine-launched ballistic missile
A submarine-launched ballistic missile is a ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead that can be launched from submarines. Modern variants usually deliver multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles each of which carries a warhead and allows a single launched missile to...
, built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems
Lockheed Martin Space Systems
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company is one of the four major business divisions of Lockheed Martin. It is headquartered in Denver, Colorado with additional sites in Sunnyvale, California; Newtown, Pennsylvania; Huntsville, Alabama; and elsewhere in the US and UK...
in Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area...
, and deployed with the US Navy and Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. It was first deployed in 1990, and is still in service.
Trident II was designed to be more sophisticated than Trident I, and have a greater payload capacity. It is accurate enough to be used as a first strike
First strike
In nuclear strategy, a first strike is a preemptive surprise attack employing overwhelming force. First strike capability is a country's ability to defeat another nuclear power by destroying its arsenal to the point where the attacking country can survive the weakened retaliation while the opposing...
weapon. All three stages of the Trident II are made of graphite epoxy, making the missile much lighter. Trident II missiles are carried by US Ohio class
Ohio class submarine
The Ohio class is a class of nuclear-powered submarines used by the United States Navy. The United States has 18 Ohio-class submarines:...
and British Vanguard class
Vanguard class submarine
The Vanguard class are the Royal Navy's current nuclear ballistic missile submarines , each armed with up to 16 Trident II Submarine-launched ballistic missiles...
submarines. was the first submarine to be armed with Trident IIs. Trident II missiles are currently carried by fourteen Ohio class, and four Vanguard class SSBNs. There were 135 consecutive successful test flights of the D5 missile since 1989 with the most recent being from USS Nevada
USS Nevada (SSBN-733)
USS Nevada is a United States Navy ballistic missile submarine that has been in commission since 1986. She is the fourth ship of the U.S...
on 1 March 2011 as the concluding action of US Trident D5 DASO-22
The development contract for Trident II was issued in October 1983. The first Trident II launch occurred in January 1987, and the first submarine launch was attempted by USS Tennessee (SSBN-734, the first D-5 ship of the Ohio class) in March 1989. The launch attempt failed because the plume of water following the missile rose to greater height than expected, resulting in water being in the nozzle when the motor ignited. Once the problem was understood relatively simple changes were very quickly made but the problem delayed the IOC (Initial Operational Capability) of Trident II until March 1990.
Specifications
- Purpose: strategic nuclear deterrence
- Unit Cost: USUnited States dollarThe United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
$30.9 million - Range: > 11300 kilometres (7,021.5 mi)
- Maximum speed: > 6,000 m/s (>21,000 km/h, >13,422 mph).
- Guidance system: inertial, with Star-SightingStar-SightingStar-sighting generally refers to a type of navigation which uses the position of the stars to determine direction or the observer's position. Polaris, can be used to determine North at any time of night when stars are visible in the Northern Hemisphere. Other stars can be used for navigation if...
, GPS experiments done but not deployed. - CEPCircular error probableIn the military science of ballistics, circular error probable is an intuitive measure of a weapon system's precision...
: Requirement: 90–120 m (300–400 ft) That demonstrated by flight tests is significantly better. - Warhead (in USA usage only): nuclear MIRV. Up to four W88W88The W88 is a United States thermonuclear warhead, with an estimated yield of 475 kiloton , and is small enough to fit on MIRVed missiles. The W88 was designed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the 1970s. In 1999 the director of Los Alamos who had presided over its design described it as...
(475 kt) warheads (Mark 5) or eight W76W76The W76 is a United States thermonuclear warhead. It was manufactured from 1978-1987, and is still in service .The W-76 is carried inside a Mk-4 re-entry vehicle. U.S...
(100 kt) warheads (Mark 4). The Trident II can carry 12 MIRV warheads but START ISTART ISTART was a bilateral treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. The treaty was signed on 31 July 1991 and entered into force on 5 December 1994...
reduces this to 8 and SORTSORTThe Treaty Between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Strategic Offensive Reductions , also known as the Treaty of Moscow, was a strategic arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia that was in force from June 2003 until February 2011 when it was superseded...
reduces this yet further to 4 or 5.
See also
- UGM-96 Trident IUGM-96 Trident IThe UGM-96 Trident I, or Trident C4 was an American Submarine-launched ballistic missile, built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Sunnyvale, California. First deployed in 1979, the Trident I replaced the Poseidon missile. It was retired in the Early 21st Century, having been replaced by the...
- Trident (missile)