Trident II D5 Missile
Submitted by Ronald L Martini on May 23, 2008 and compiled by David Barth on October 19, 2008.
The Lockheed Martin-Built Trident II D5 missile achieved a record 122 successful
test launches in a row.
The U.S. Navy conducted a successful test launch in May 2008 of two Lockheed Martin Trident
II D5 Fleet Ballistic Missiles (FBMs). The Navy launched the unarmed missiles from the submerged submarine USS
Nebraska (SSBN 739) in the Pacific Ocean. First deployed in 1990, the D5 missile is currently aboard Trident II
Ohio-class submarines and British Trident II Vanguard-class submarines. The three-stage, solid-propellant,
inertial-guided ballistic missile can travel a nominal range of 4,000-6,000 nautical miles and carries multiple
independently targeted reentry vehicles (MIRV) which means that 7to14 bombs in the 150-300-megaton range can be
released from each missile warhead. By comparison, the Hiroshima bomb (FAT-Boy) provided a 13 Kiloton blast and
weighed 9000 lbs.