November 19, 2018
By John Keller
WASHINGTON – Strategic weapons experts at Lockheed Martin Corp. will build additional UGM-133A Trident II D5 submarine-launched ballistic nuclear missiles and support deployed D5 atomic weapons under terms of two orders announced Friday collectively worth $90.4 million.
Officials of the U.S. Navy Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) office in Washington are asking the Lockheed Martin Space Systems segment in Sunnyvale, Calif., to provide new procurement of Trident II (D5) missile production and D5 deployed systems support. One order is worth $41.3 million, and the second order is worth $49.1 million.
Navy leaders have put a substantial amount of time, money, and resources into Trident D5 missile production over the past two years. President Donald Trump has said one of his highest military priorities is to revitalize the nation's nuclear forces.
Over the past eight months Lockheed Martin received contracts and orders collectively worth $139.3 million for Trident II D5 missiles and support. Over the same period the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc. in Cambridge, Mass., won a $58.6 million order for Trident D5 MK 6 guidance system production.
In July 2016 Lockheed Martin won a $21.8 million contract for long lead items to support the fiscal 2017 Trident II D5 missile production schedule, and around the same time the company won an $8.3 million order for a cyber security update to information technology (IT) applications unique to fleet ballistic missile systems such as the Trident D5.
In March 2016 Draper Lab won a potential $163.6 million contract to build, test, verify, and recertify Trident missile inertial measurement units, electronic assemblies, and electronic modules.
The Trident II D5 is one of the most advanced long-range submarine-launched nuclear missiles in the world. It is the primary U.S. sea-based nuclear ballistic missile, and is deployed aboard U.S. Navy Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines.
The U.S. Navy operates 14 of these ballistic missile submarines, each of which can carry as many as 24 Trident II missiles. Although the Trident II is designed to carry as many as 12 multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) warheads, current treaties reduce this number to four or five.
Each Trident II missile has a range of 4,000 to 7,000 miles. The Trident II D5 was first deployed in 1990 and is scheduled to remain in service until at least 2027.
The Navy started the D5 Life Extension Program in 2002 to replace obsolete components using as many commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) parts as possible to keep costs down and to enhance the missile's capability. Draper Lab is in charge of upgrading the Trident II's guidance system, and has been working on this project since 2005.
In practice, the Trident II missile's inertial measurement system receives targeting data from computers aboard the submarine. The inertial measurement unit then transmits signals to the D5 flight-control computer and converts them into steering commands to keep the ballistic missile on target.
The missile's post-boost control system maneuvers the missile in flight to observe stars for the missile's celestial navigation subsystem, which updates the inertial system in flight.
Lockheed Martin also is integrating the Trident II onto the next-generation ballistic submarine designs of the U.S. and United Kingdom by adapting the Trident II missile and reentry subsystems into the common missile compartment for the Ohio replacement and United Kingdom successor programs.
The Ohio replacement is being designed to replace the Navy's fleet of Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines. The United Kingdom successor program, meanwhile, will replace the Royal Navy's fleet of Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarines.
The U.S. Navy today operates 18 Ohio-class submarines -- 14 of which carry the Trident nuclear missile. Four Ohio-class subs have been modified to carry conventionally armed long-range cruise missiles.
The Ohio-class submarine has been in commission since 1981, and this class is scheduled to be decommissioned and replaced starting in 2029. The United Kingdom Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarine has been at sea since 1993. The Royal Navy operates four Vanguard-class subs.
On these orders Lockheed Martin will do the work in Sunnyvale and Santa Clara, Calif.; Kings Bay, Ga. ; Bangor, Wash.; Cape Canaveral, Fla. and Clearwater, Fla.; Denver; Borgo San Dalmazzo, Italy; Biddeford, Maine; Valley Forge, Pa.; and other various locations, and should be finished by September 2023.
Original post: militaryaerospace.com
UGM-133 Trident II
The Lockheed Martin UGM-133 Trident II (D5) is a three-stage, solid propellant, inertially guided submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). Trident II missiles are deployed in 14 nuclear-powered SSBN 726 Ohio Class submarines (each carrying 24 missiles) as well as in British Vanguard-class submarines. The missile was first deployed in March 1990 and deliveries to the U.S. Navy were completed in 2007.
The Trident II provides greater range, payload capability, and accuracy than the older Trident I (C4) missile. All three stages of the Trident II are made of lighter, stronger, stiffer graphite epoxy, whose integrated structure means considerable weight saving. The missile's range is increased by the aerospike, a telescoping outward extension that reduces frontal drag by about 50%.
Trident II is launched by the pressure of expanding gas within the launch tube. When the missile attains sufficient distance from the submarine, the first stage motor ignites, the aerospike extends and the boost stage begins. Within about two minutes (after the third stage motor has kicked in), the missile is traveling in excess of 20,000 feet (6,096 meters) per second. Following third-stage motor separation, the missile deploys its reentry vehicles. The missile has a range of 4,000 nautical miles and is capable of carrying multiple W76-Mk4/Mk4A or W88-Mk5 reentry vehicles.
According to Lockheed Martin, from 1989 through 2017, the U.S. Navy has conducted 161 successful and consecutive test launches of the Trident II D5 missile, a record unmatched by any other large ballistic missile or space launch vehicle.
It is expected that the Trident II missile will be deployed through 2042. The missile will be the intial payload for the future Columbia Class submarine, which is being developed to replace the SSBN 726 Ohio Class. The Navy is funding a Trident II sustainment program called D5 Life Extension (D5LE) to ensure that missiles are upgraded and modernized. The first life-extended D5LE missiles were fielded in early 2017.
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| danielosterday.com |
Mission/Role: The mission of the Trident II (D5) ballistic missile is to deter nuclear war by means of assured retaliation in response to a major attack on the United States or its allies, and to enhance nuclear stability by providing no incentive for enemy first strike. The Trident II (D5) missile has the ability to precisely attack time-critical, high value, fixed targets. The importance of this program as a key component to the sea-based leg of the nuclear triad was confirmed by the President and Congress in the New START Treaty ratification. Source: fi-aeroweb.com
Source: missilethreat.csis.org
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