UGM-133 Trident II

"Trident II" redirects here. For the French fighter plane, see SNCASO Trident.

UGM-133A Trident II
TypeSLBM
Place of originUnited States
Service history
In service1990–present
Used byUnited States Navy
Royal Navy
Production history
ManufacturerLockheed Martin Space
Unit cost$30.9 million (2019)[1]
Produced1983
Specifications
Mass130,000 lb (59,000 kg)[2]
Length44 ft 6.6 in (13.579 m)
Diameter6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) (1st stage)[2]
Warhead1–8 Mk-5 RV/W88 (475 kt) or
1–12 Mk-4 RV/W76-0 (100 kt) or
1–12 Mk-4A RV/W-76-1 (90 kt) or
unknown Mk-7 RV/W93 (unknown kt)[3]
Single or multiple W76-2 (5–7 kt)[4][5]
EngineThree solid-fuel rocket motors; first & second stage – Thiokol/Hercules solid-fueled rocket; third stage – United Technologies Corp. solid-fueled rocket[6]
PropellantNEPE-75:[7] Nitrate ester, plasticized polyethylene glycol-bound HMX, Aluminum, ammonium perchlorate
Operational
range
More than 7,500 mi (12,000 km)[8][9] (exact is classified)[10]
Maximum speed Approximately 18,030 mph (29,020 km/h) (Mach 24; 8,060 m/s)[2] (terminal phase)
Guidance
system
MK 6 astro-inertial guidance[2][11]
Steering
system
Single movable nozzle actuated by a gas generator
Accuracy100 m[12][13]
Launch
platform
Ballistic missile submarine

The UGM-133A Trident II, or Trident D5 is a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), built by Lockheed Martin Space in Sunnyvale, California, and deployed with the United States and Royal Navy. It was first deployed in March 1990,[6] and remains in service. The Trident II Strategic Weapons System is an improved SLBM with greater accuracy, payload, and range than the earlier Trident C-4. It is a key element of the U.S. strategic nuclear triad and strengthens U.S. strategic deterrence. The Trident II is considered to be a durable sea-based system capable of engaging many targets. It has payload flexibility that can accommodate various treaty requirements, such as New START. The Trident II's increased payload allows nuclear deterrence to be accomplished with fewer submarines,[14] and its high accuracy—approaching that of land-based missiles—enables it to be used as a first strike weapon.[15][16][17]

Trident II missiles are carried by 14 US Ohio and 4 British Vanguard-class submarines, with 24 missiles on each Ohio class and 16 missiles on each Vanguard class (the number of missiles on Ohio-class submarines was reduced to 20, by 2017,[18][19] in compliance with the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty). There have been 177 successful test flights of the D5 missile since design completion in 1989,[20] the most recent being from USS Maine (SSBN-741) in February 2020.[21] There have been fewer than 10 test flights that were failures,[22] the most recent being from HMS Vanguard off the coast of Florida in January 2024.[23] The D5 is the sixth in a series of missile generations deployed since the sea-based deterrent program began 60 years ago. The Trident D5LE (life-extension) version will remain in service until 2042.[24]

  1. ^ "The US Navy -- Fact File: Trident II (D5) Missile". www.navy.mil. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d Parsch, Andreas. "Trident D-5". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  3. ^ Kristensen, Hans M.; Korda, Matt (29 April 2019). "United States nuclear forces, 2019". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 75 (3): 122–134. Bibcode:2019BuAtS..75c.122K. doi:10.1080/00963402.2019.1606503.
  4. ^ "US Deploys New Low-Yield Nuclear Submarine Warhead". FAS. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  5. ^ "Trump poised to get new low-yield nuclear weapons". Washington Post. 13 June 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  6. ^ a b Parsch, Andreas. "UGM-133". Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  7. ^ "High Energy Rocket Fuels". Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  8. ^ "Fact file: Trident missile". 23 September 2009. Retrieved 29 March 2018 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
  9. ^ "Trident D-5 - Missile Threat". csis.org. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  10. ^ "DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1996 (Senate – August 11, 1995)". Retrieved 13 June 2014.
  11. ^ "Lockheed Martin UGM-133 Trident II". www.designation-systems.net. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  12. ^ In Combat, section Smart Weapons, page 13, Malcolm McCavendish, 1991
  13. ^ Imgur image
  14. ^ "Trident II (D-5) Sea-Launched Ballistic Missile UGM 133A (Trident II Missile)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 January 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
  15. ^ Lieber, Keir A.; Press, Daryl G. (Winter 2007). "U.S. Nuclear Primacy and the Future of the Chinese Deterrent". China Security. p. 77.
  16. ^ Cimbala, Stephen J. (2010). Military persuasion: Deterrence and provocation in crisis and war. Penn State Press. pp. 85–6. ISBN 978-0271041261. Retrieved 29 January 2016. By the end of the 1980s, however, the submarine-launched ballistic missile had turned another page. The accuracy of the Trident II (D-5) SLBM, planned as the replacement for the Trident I with Trident II deployments beginning in 1989, was comparable to that of the MX/Peacekeeper ICBM, the most accurate land-based missile in the U.S. strategic arsenal. Owing to its improved accuracy and larger payload compared to its SLBM predecessors, Trident II would be able to attack hardened targets in the Soviet Union that were not previously vulnerable to sea-launched ballistic missiles. Although U.S. planners might assume that these strikes against hardened targets in the Soviet Union would be retaliatory attacks, a Soviet net-assessment of U.S. first-strike capabilities would have to include the improved sea-based missiles.
  17. ^ Stellan Vinthagen (2012). Tackling Trident. Irene Publishing. p. 41. ISBN 9781471751042. Retrieved 29 November 2017. Although it is accurate enough for a 'first strike' weapon, successive governments have been adamant that the purpose of the current Trident system is as a 'deterrent' against nuclear or similarly cataclysmic attack on Britain. The Trident 'mission' is outlined by the Ministry of Defense: 'In a posture known as Continuous At Sea Defence (CASD), one submarine, armed with up to 16 Trident missiles and up to 48 warheads, is always on deterrent patrol 24 hours a day, 365 days a year' (MoD, 2006).
  18. ^ "Reduce the Number of Ballistic Missile Submarines". Congressional Budget Office.
  19. ^ "New Data Shows Detail About Final Phase of US New START Treaty Reductions". Federation of American Scientists. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  20. ^ "Successful Trident II D5 Missile Flight Test Supports Navy Submarine Certification for Strategic Patrol". Lockheed Martin. 13 September 2016. Archived from the original on 26 January 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  21. ^ "US Sub Test Fires 2 Ballistic Missiles in Pacific Ocean". Archived from the original on 16 July 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  22. ^ McCann, Kate; Dominiczak, Peter; Swinford, Steven (23 January 2017). "US Trident failure claims contradict Michael Fallon". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  23. ^ "British Trident missile test launch fails for second time". UK Defence Journal. 21 February 2024. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  24. ^ "U.S. Nuclear Modernization Programs". Arms Control Association. August 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2016.