Talk:UGM-133 Trident D5

Wording change

I think 8-12 warheads is more accurate than up to 12. This involves some informed guesswork on my part, and, while I've had no classified access to Trident data, some thoughts from earlier MIRVed missiles. My reading of 8-12 is the reentry bus, the thing that holds and aims the warheads, is really designed for the weight balance of 8-12 warheads. Decoys are almost always lighter.

There are scenarios in which it would be the national intention to deliver a single warhead. I believe the way that would have to be done is to fire a MIRVed missile, but not arm 7-11 of the warheads. Still, a country with ballistic missile defense radar would see the warheads, with no way to know, at first, they were not armed. They might see more, if their radar can't discriminate decoys.

This would be a situation where hotlines, etc., would urgently be needed.

There is active research into a non-nuclear warhead for Trident and other missiles, and I believe it's well understood that Russia, etc., would have to be informed were such a weapon used for an anti-terrorist or anti-WMD strike. Such a kinetic energy warhead, however, would look quite different than nuclear warheads -- it would either be a single solid mass (concrete with guidance units is likely) or a bundle of small guided steel rods, etc.

I suppose this article should be updated for the discussion of kinetic nonnuclear warheads. When last I looked, there was some serious discussion among experts, and for a change, Congress, if this was a good or bad idea. One of the arguments is that for a worldwide contingency where there are no local aircraft, it will take many hours to get a non-nuclear response to what could be a time-critical situation. ICBMs and SLBMs are fast, even with the need to retarget. Howard C. Berkowitz 11:33, 24 August 2010 (UTC)