Missiles Away

Posted 27 February 2015
US Navy Photo

The U.S. Navy conducted successful test flights on 22 February 2015 of two UGM-133 Trident II (D5) Fleet Ballistic Missiles. These launches were the 154th and 155th successful test flights since design completion in 1989. The Navy launched the unarmed missiles in the Pacific Ocean from a submerged Ohio-class submarine. The missiles were converted into test configurations using kits that contain range safety devices and flight telemetry instrumentation. First deployed in 1990, the D5 missile is aboard US Navy Ohio-class and U.K. Royal Navy Vanguard-class submarines. The three-stage ballistic missile can travel a nominal range of 4,000 nautical miles and carries multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles. The Trident missiles are built by Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale, California.

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