U.S. Seeks Successor to Trident SLBM Submarine

[megimoo]

U.S. Seeks Successor to Trident SLBM Submarine

– The U.S. Navy has started the process to find a 21st-century successor to the Trident strategic missile submarine, senior Defense Department officials said here yesterday. Left to right, Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter; Navy Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of Naval Operations; and Air Force Gen. Kevin P. Chilton, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, meet with reporters at Naval Submarine Base King’s Bay, Ga., Feb. 19, 2009. The USS Rhode Island, a Trident strategic... snip
U.S. defense planners are now seeking "to tailor our deterrence for the types of actors that were not present during the Cold War but are going to be present in the future," Cartwright said.

And, "it will be the sailors that will make the difference in deterrence, not necessarily just the platforms," Cartwright said of the Navy's future nuclear-deterrent mission.

The 14 nuclear-missile carrying Trident submarines based here and at other Navy ports provide more than half of America's strategic deterrent capability, King's Bay officials said.

"The application of deterrence can be actually more complicated in the 21st century, but some fundamentals don't change," Air Force Gen. Kevin P. Chilton, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, said. "And, the underlying strength of our deterrence force remains the nuclear deterrent force that we have today."

The Trident submarine strategic missile force "is absolutely essential" to America's nuclear-deterrent capability, Chilton said.

"And, it's not just to deter nuclear conflict," he said of the Tridents' mission. "These forces have served to deter conflict in general, writ large, since they've been fielded."

The U.S. government agreed to reduce the number of its strategic-missile submarines as part of the 1992 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Consequently, four of the Navy's 18 Trident submarines were modified to exchange their nuclear missiles for Tomahawk-guided cruise missiles. These vessels carry the designator SSGN. In 2006, the USS Ohio was converted into a guided-missile submarine.

At the news conference, Roughead said the Navy is "really pleased" with the converted Trident submarines, which also carry a contingent of special operations troops, as well as the Tomahawks.

"That [type of] submarine has performed extremely well," Roughead said of the cruise-missile carrying Tridents.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/news....aspx?id=53167

[AHeneen]

It would be nice to see tomahawks replace most nukes on these things. Maybe we can start equiping them with Anti-satellite missiles. It seemed to me that our test last year took way too long to prepare (namely getting the thing into position). With subs in oceans all over the world, it would seem that a sub could more quickly get into position to shoot down a satellite.

[tacitus]

Sorry the bank vault is empty! The socialist welfare programs have #1 priority and the Navy will have to make do with what they have on hand.

[megimoo]

It would be nice to see tomahawks replace most nukes on these things. Maybe we can start equiping them with Anti-satellite missiles. It seemed to me that our test last year took way too long to prepare (namely getting the thing into position). With subs in oceans all over the world, it would seem that a sub could more quickly get into position to shoot down a satellite.

It would be nice to see tomahawks replace most nukes on these things. Maybe we can start equipping them with Anti-satellite missiles. It seemed to me that our test last year took way too long to prepare (namely getting the thing into position). With subs in oceans all over the world, it would seem that a sub could more quickly get into position to shoot down a satellite.
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First of all a Tomahawks Cruise Missile is a tactical anti ship missile with an about six hundred pound conventional explosive war head and a range of 2500 kilometers = 1553.42798 miles .
These are used for anti ship anti sub attacks ..
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A Sub Launched Ballistic Missile Trident D-5 has 8 Multiple Independent Re_entry Vehicles all Mk 5 Re_entry Vehicles Warheads with a yield of 475 kiloTon with a Range of 12000 kilometers = 7 456.45431 miles .
These are used to destroy an enemy's offensive Ballistic missile capabilitys.
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The Fleet Aegis systems are designed for anti Missile anti aircraft type missions and it's missiles used as part of the fleets air defence systems.
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Aegis is the Fleets main air defense system and has surface,air and sub surface elements and sensors.
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The Aegis system was used to shoot down the re_entry satellite loaded with fuel and was never used in this way before .

To use the system as an Anti-satellite platform requires reprogramming the missile warhead to track and destroy a different type of high speed target .The returning space vehicle was travelling at about 15,000 mph when it reached the upper atmosphere and would have explosively vaporized on re entry .It wasn't so much the time it took to position the USS Lake Erie,it was already on station, as it was to re_program the warhead.

The Aegis BMD system, coupled with the RIM-161 Standard missile (SM-3), has also demonstrated a limited capability as an anti-satellite weapon against satellites in the lower portion of low Earth orbit. On February 20, 2008, USA 193 was destroyed by an group of Aegis ships in the Pacific, out of concern of that satellite's hydrazine payload contaminating land area upon re-entry from an uncontrolled orbit. The launching vessel was the USS Lake Erie, and one SM-3 missile was used. Interception was at an altitude of 133 nautical miles (247 kilometers).And they 'knocked it down' with one shot first time .
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"With subs in oceans all over the world, it would seem that a sub could more quickly get into position to shoot down a satellite." Your idea is a good one and makes lots of sense. We ,because of Salt Treaty limitations, were were required to limit our Ballistic Submarine to fourteen Boomers from Eighteen and the Navy made them into conventional Tomahawk cruise Missile Carriers and US Navy Seal UDT transports. They are to be used for stealth seal insertion underwater into hot spots .These subs are huge with all of the 'D5's removed and allow room for about sixty seals, all of their underwater vehicles and gear .http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/ohio/.

[signalsgt]

Small correction megimoo:

The Harpoon is the Navy's ship to ship missile. The Tomahawk is a nuclear capable (W-61 warhead I believe) strike package that was used in Iraq to great effect with its HE or submunition warhead. It does have a shorter range than a Trident and less payload but is cheaper to produce and use than a ballistic missile.

Other than that everything you described about the anti satellite mission is correct.

:)

[CorwinK]

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/smart/bgm-109.htm

Lots of good info on Tomohawks there, and signalsgt is correct...the AGM-84 Harpoon missile is the USN's primary anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM).

Common ASM's in use by foreign nations include the YJ-82 series (commonly referred to as the C-801 or 802 depending on launching platform), the SS-N-22 Sunburn (Moskit), and the Exocett series.

[megimoo]

Small correction megimoo:

The Harpoon is the Navy's ship to ship missile. The Tomahawk is a nuclear capable (W-61 warhead I believe) strike package that was used in Iraq to great effect with its HE or submunition warhead. It does have a shorter range than a Trident and less payload but is cheaper to produce and use than a ballistic missile.

Other than that everything you described about the anti satellite mission is correct.

:)

I believe you will find that the last salt 3 removed the W-80 physics package from the Tomahawks .

The main differences between the W80 and W61 appear to relate to the physical packaging of the device, and to the removal of the 0.3 kt yield mode; the W61 apparently needed this feature when deployed as a depth charge, a role for which the W80 was not intended.

In March 1982 designers began working on a W80 variant intended for the Navy's Tomahawk program.

"With the fall of the START II treaty it is not clear what the current plans are, but it is highly likely they will take place as originally planned in order to remove the ALCM from service. Mod 0 armed Tomahawks are currently stored onshore, but there are/were plans to make this the primary US Navy nuclear weapon."

"It does have a shorter range than a Trident and less payload but is cheaper to produce and use than a ballistic missile"

The main differance is application as I stated, the BGM-109 Tomahawk is Tactical and the UGM-133A Trident II (D5) is Strategic.

BGM-109 Tomahawk TLAM-A and TLAM-N uses one W-80 physics packages and yields 150 kt !
The W80 is a small thermonuclear warhead (fusion weapon) in the Enduring Stockpile with an adjustable explosive yield of between 5 and 150 KT TNT.
The Navy would use this as a saturated stand off land attack against a hardened high value targets close to the coast !

UGM-133A D5 SLBM uses eight W-88 physics package. the total yield would be 3.80 megatons .
The W88 is a thermonuclear warhead, with an estimated yield of 475 kiloton (kt), and is small enough to fit on MIRVed missiles. The W88 was designed at the Los Alamos National LaboratoryLos Alamos National Laboratory "the most advanced U.S. nuclear warhead."

The Navy would use these against an entire ICBM Missile Complex in an air burst mode to crush the silo tops and prevent any launch/Re-launch .A full 'broadside' from a Trident Boomber of twenty four D5 SlBM'S against an ICBM Missile Complex would equal 91.2 megatons, Just like hell on earth .

[signalsgt]

I stand corrected! :)

Thanks megs.

:)

[PoliCon]

Sorry the bank vault is empty! The socialist welfare programs have #1 priority and the Navy will have to make do with what they have on hand.

Barry wants us to downgrade our equipment to WWI surplus. After all the best way to keep us safe is to make us an even bigger target right?