US Navy’s Trident II D5 missile test

Eyes on the future

Trident II D5 was developed by Lockheed Martin Space in Sunnyvale, California, and has been in use since its initial deployment in March 1990. Compared to the older Trident C-4, the Trident II Strategic Weapons System is a better SLBM with increased accuracy, payload, and range. It improves US strategic deterrence and is a crucial component of the strategic nuclear triad of the United States.

The US Ohio class and the UK Vanguard-class submarines presently carry the three-stage Trident II D5/D5LE SLBM, which the US Columbia class and the UK Dreadnought-class submarines will also take. Trident II is capable of carrying up to eight Mk-5 RVs with 475-kt W88 warheads, fourteen Mk-4A RVs with 90-kt W76-1 warheads, and fourteen Mk-4A RVs with 5-7-kt W76-2 warheads when used in US service. The range of the SLBM stands at 4,600 miles (7,400 kilometers).

The Trident II is an authoritarian sea-based system that can engage various targets. Thanks to its flexible payload, it can fulfill different treaty criteria, such as New START. With its enhanced load, the Trident II can provide nuclear deterrence with fewer submarines, and its superb accuracy—which is on par with land-based missiles—allows it to be employed as a first-strike weapon.

Solid-propulsion technology

The test utilized the oldest Trident II D5 motors ever flown, according to Northrop Grumman, which produces solid-propulsion motor systems of the Trident II missile. All three stages of the Trident II missile's solid-propulsion motor systems, which remain one of the critical factors responsible for its operations, are produced by the firm under a contract with Lockheed Martin. Since manufacturing started in 1985, the business has cast almost 87 million pounds of fuel and supplied over 2000 Trident II D5 motors.

According to the aerospace and defense technology company, since the introduction of the nation's Fleet Ballistic Missile submarine-launched systems, Polaris, Poseidon C3, Trident I C4, and Trident II D5/D5LE, which is anticipated to remain in service through the 2040s, Northrop Grumman has supported the Navy's deterrent role. The submarines designed to carry these missiles have operational dates till 2080.

The group has provided propulsion for the SLBM since the beginning of its deployment. "That is the kind of performance the Navy has come to rely upon to meet national defense readiness with Northrop Grumman solid rocket motor technology to power the Trident II Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles," said Wendy Williams, vice president, propulsion systems, Northrop Grumman, in a press statement.

To enhance the reliability factor of such missile systems, the firm is trying to develop the best-in-class solid rocket motor technologies through various digital transformation and modernization initiatives. Such actions are meant to enhance manufacturing processes, increase efficiency, boost reliability, and support plans for the sea-based leg of the nuclear triad.