Trident II

The Trident II represents the SLBM characteristics sought by the Navy since the original Polaris pro-gram of 1960: the ability to attack pinpoint hardened targets from waters off the continental United States. However, this capability has arrived as the United States and the former Soviet Union are drastically cutting their strategic forces after the end of the Cold War.

From the DoD perspective, the is-sue of industrial base must be ad-dressed. Termination of Trident II production is liable to end US capabilities to manufacture strategic nu-clear delivery vehicles. While the United States does not currently face a credible strategic threat, this situation could change given the volatility of politics in Russia and China. The Trident program was trimmed back from an annual rate of 48 missiles to only six to seven missiles in FY96-97. The Navy wanted to see the pro-gram continue at 12 missiles, and this was finally reached again with the FY00 and FY01 budgets. The Navy completed purchase of the planned 425 missiles in FY05 but rather than continue to build new missiles, the

Navy has now shifted the emphasis to rebuilding the existing inventory to extend their life. The current objective is to rebuild 132 missiles, but to keep a full force of 12 SSBN with 24 missiles each, this will eventually encompass about 300 missiles.

In 2021, the Navy announced it was beginning to study a future SLBM program, focused on using proven components from the existing Trident II but probably with a new warhead such as the W93. Initial design is expected to begin around 2025.