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The Trident missile is a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) equipped with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV). Originally developed by Lockheed Missiles and Space Corporation , the missile is armed with thermonuclear warheads and is launched from nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs).
It is unclear if the W93 will replace the W76-1, the W88 or both warheads. [45] In UK usage Trident II missiles are equipped with a warhead called Holbrook [46] and have a maximum yield of 100 kt. [47] The UK government insists the warhead is a British design, but analysts believe that it is largely based on the US W76 design.
The warhead was initially manufactured from 1978 to 1987 and designed by Los Alamos National Laboratory.It was initially fitted to the Trident I SLBM system, but after the Rocky Flats plant where its successor the W88 was being made was shut down in 1989 after a production run of only 400 warheads, it was decided to transfer W76 warheads to Trident II.
The Trident 2 missile and dummy warhead were propelled into the air but the first-stage boosters of the missile did not ignite and it subsequently sank into the ocean.
The missile was a three-stage, solid-fuelled system, capable of carrying up to eight W76 warheads in the Mark 4 RB. The first eight Ohio-class submarines were armed with Trident I missiles. Twelve James Madison- and Benjamin Franklin-class submarines were also retrofitted with Trident I missiles, which replaced older Poseidon missiles.
Labour has called for assurances over Britain’s nuclear deterrent after reports that a Trident missile test failed for the second time in a row. Trident: The ins and outs of Britain’s nuclear ...
On 19 March 1998, the Defence Secretary, George Robertson, was asked to provide a statement "on the development of a lower-yield variant of the Trident warhead for the sub-strategic role". He replied, "the UK has some flexibility in the choice of yield for the warheads on its Trident missiles". [78]
LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's Trident nuclear-deterrent system misfired during a test last month, sending a missile crashing into the ocean off the Florida coast near the submarine that launched it ...