Cold War nuclear missile set to see almost a century of service

A Cold War nuclear missile will remain in service for a total of 94 years thanks to a US$383 million US Navy contract, with Lockheed Martin to modernize the submarine-launched Trident II missile and stretch its life until 2084.

Entering service at the end of the Cold War in 1990, the Trident II missile was developed as one leg of the three-part US nuclear deterrent force and as Britain's entire nuclear deterrent. The three-stage, solid-fueled missile with a maximum range of over 7,500 miles (12,000 km) is carried on the US Navy's 14 Ohio class and the Royal Navy's four Vanguard class nuclear missile submarines. There are up to 24 missiles on each Ohio class and 16 missiles on each Vanguard class, with each missile carrying multiple, independently targetable nuclear warheads.

The US Ohio submarines are scheduled to be replaced by the 12 new Columbia class and the British Vanguards by the four boats of the Dreadnaught class, but both of these will still carry the Trident II as well as a Common Missile Compartment and launching system developed jointly by the two countries under a long-standing technology sharing agreement.

Under the new contract, Lockheed Martin will modernize the Trident II Strategic Weapons System (SWS) D5 missile to create an upgraded Trident II D5 Life Extension 2 (D5LE2) submarine-launched ballistic missile, which will supplement and gradually replace the current stock of Tridents through maintenance and as the new class of submarines come on line.

The exact modifications haven't been released, but it will involve improvements to various systems, including the navigation and control units. In addition, the Trident II D5LE2 will carry the new US W93/Mk7 nuclear warhead and reentry body assembly and a new British Astraea warhead. In addition, it will be able to carry a new conventionally armed hypersonic missile for the American submarines.

The Trident II D5LE2 is scheduled to enter service in 2040 and will replace all the old Tridents by 2049. When the Trident II D5LE2 retires in 2084, the Trident II class will have been in service for almost a century.

It may seem odd that such a technology should remain in use for so long when we think about technology shooting forward at a lightning pace, but that pace is, in many ways, an illusion. We think of innovations coming at breakneck speed because our attention is often drawn to the most novel and sensational examples of progress.

However, if we look at technology as a whole, it's more a case of different areas shooting ahead, then slowing down and consolidating as they reach a plateau.

A dramatic example of this is how aircraft evolved in the first half of the last century. They went from little more than motorized kites capable of going only a few hundred yards to metal supersonic fighters and giant, gleaming jet-propelled passenger airliners that could span the globe in hours in under five decades. Since then there have been any number of remarkable innovations, but few things like the dramatic, fundamental changes of those early days.

The same can be seen with computers. It wasn't that long ago when every couple of years saw all sorts of marvels like the internet and Wi-Fi entering our homes. Today, desktop computers are flat-screens and keyboards that do their job and are about as interesting as a dehumidifier.

So it is with the Trident II. It's the end of a line of advances in submarine missile technology that saw a new Polaris missile rolling out every few months in the 1960s to the Tridents of today that don't really need much improvement because they do what they're supposed to, which is to act as a lethal, precise deterrent against attack. Barring some new advances in anti-missile defenses or anti-submarine warfare, there's no need to fix what isn't broken.

"The second life extension of the Trident D5 missile will enable the United States and United Kingdom, through the Polaris Sales Agreement, to maintain credibility deterring evolving threats," said Jerry Mamrol, vice president of Fleet Ballistic Missiles at Lockheed Martin. "We are proud to continue our critical partnership with the U.S. Navy to take deterrence into this new era."

Source: Lockheed Martin