Navy Strategic Forces: Trident 2 Proceeding toward Deployment
Abstract
This report responds to your September 24, 1987, request, and subsequent discussions with your staff, to review the acquisition status of the Navy's Trident II system. The first Trident II system. The first Trident II submarine's initial operational capability (IOC) date is scheduled for December 1989. It will be armed with the D-5 missile, the Navy's newest and most deadly ballistic missile. The Trident II system will substantially increase the capability of the U.S. strategic submarine forces to destroy nuclear-hardened targets, including missile silos and command, control, and communications centers. Compared to the Trident I system, the Trident II system is designed to hit a target with improved accuracy and greater explosive power. Our review, conducted from November 1987 through September 1988, focused on the status of each major Trident II Acquisition element, including the work completed and the work remaining to deploy the Trident II. These acquisition elements consist of developing, testing, and producing the D-5 missile and its associated systems; constructing the Trident II submarines; and constructing and activating shore support facilities, including dredging waterway areas, at Kings Bay, Georgia. You also requested a management study of the Navy's Strategic Systems, Programs (SSP) command and this work will be addressed in a later report. (See app. I for further information on the objectives, scope, and methodology of this review.)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1988
- Accession Number
- ADA267885
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office