Tag Archives: Trident II D5

Royal Navy Faced With Tough Sub Choices If Scotland Leaves U.K.

Royal Navy Faced With Tough Sub Choices If Scotland Leaves U.K.

HMS Vanguard arrives back at HM Naval Base Clyde following a nuclear deterrence patrol. U.K. Royal Navy Photo

HMS Vanguard arrives back at HM Naval Base Clyde following a nuclear deterrence patrol. U.K. Royal Navy Photo

The heart of the United Kingdom’s nuclear submarine enterprise could be cut out if Scotland leaves the U.K. in Thursday’s referendum on Scottish independence, British leaders have warned repeatedly over the last several months.

Scots voting “Yes” for independence say they’re happy to see the subs go. Read More

Navy's Nukes Won't Keep Pace With New Missile Subs

Navy’s Nukes Won’t Keep Pace With New Missile Subs

The 1977 flight test of an early Trident missile. US Air Force Photo

The 1977 flight test of an early Trident missile. US Air Force Photo

When the U.S. Navy’s new SSBN (X) conducts its first patrol in 2031 it will be an entirely new vessel, but the boat will initially rely on life-extended 1990s vintage Trident II D5 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) to perform its nuclear deterrence mission. The Navy currently expects to keep the D5 in service into the 2040s, after which it may replace the long-serving weapon with a new missile. Read More

Navy Leaders Push SSBN Replacement

Navy Leaders Push SSBN Replacement

Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarine USS Pennsylvania (SSBN 735) returns to its homeport of Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Maine in 2012. US Navy Photo

Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarine USS Pennsylvania (SSBN 735) returns to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Wash. in 2012. US Navy Photo

Ohio-Class Replacement nuclear ballistic missile submarine “is the right ship to operate in 2080” with construction scheduled to begin in 2021, the director of the Navy’s undersea warfare division told attendees during a panel discussion of future nuclear deterrence at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Exposition 2013 at National Harbor, Md. Read More

Sequestration Will Not Delay Next Generation Boomer

Sequestration Will Not Delay Next Generation Boomer

Artists concept of the Ohio Replacement ballistic nuclear missile submarine. US Navy Photo

Artists concept of the Ohio Replacement ballistic nuclear missile submarine. US Navy Photo

The Ohio Class Replacement nuclear ballistic submarine (SSBN) program will not be delayed due to Navy budget cuts from mandated sequestration budget cuts, program manager Capt. Bill Brougham said Tuesday at a briefing at Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Exposition 2013 at National Harbor, Md. Read More

Ohio-class Replacement Details

Ohio-class Replacement Details

The Ohio-class Replacement nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) is the Navy’s planned sea-based strategic nuclear deterrent. U.S. Navy officials outlined the capabilities of the boat this month.

“The Ohio Replacement is not, is not, a multi-mission platform,” Capt. William Brougham, US Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Ohio-class Replacement Program Manager, said at the 2012 Naval Submarine League Symposium in Falls Church, Va. on Oct. 18.
“We don’t turn into a multi-mission platform that’s going to go off and do things that you see on television,” he said.

The Ohio Replacement is scaled back from the initial Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) for the program, then dubbed SSBN(X), conducted by NAVSEA in 2009. The initial AoA called for a boat that would have cost $6 to 7 billion but with the reduction in capability the Ohio Replacement drove costs down to $5.6 billion a copy. The eventual goal of the reductions is to produce the boats at $4.9 billion a copy.

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