Five Reasons The Navy's D5 Missile Is The Most Important Weapon In The U.S. Arsenal

[rangerrebew]

Five Reasons The Navy's D5 Missile Is The Most Important Weapon In The U.S. Arsenal
Loren Thompson
 

Last week, the Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs office awarded Lockheed Martin a $560 million modification to a pre-existing contract for production and support of the Trident II D5 missile. Almost nobody outside the Navy and Lockheed’s missiles and space unit noticed. Dozens of such agreements have been completed over the years.

Reading the official announcement, you’d never guess that the survival of our civilization depends on the successful execution of the January 30 contract and others like it. But it does. The D5 missile provides the backbone of America’s nuclear deterrent, and thus the main bulwark against the kind of conflict that could permanently extinguish everything we hold dear.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2019/02/04/five-reasons-the-navys-d5-missile-is-the-most-important-weapon-in-the-u-s-arsenal/#39511363ac59

[thackney]

...The 14 submarines and 280 D5 missiles comprising the sea-based deterrent can’t be tracked or targeted when they are operating, and thus there is no way an attacker could escape horrible retribution. It is the certainty of unacceptable retaliation that is America’s main insurance against nuclear war....

https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/trident-ii-d5-fleet-ballistic-missile.html

The Trident II D5 is the latest generation of the U.S. Navy's submarine-launched fleet ballistic missiles, following the highly successful Polaris, Poseidon, and Trident I C4 programs. First deployed in 1990, the Trident II D5 missile is currently aboard OHIO-class and British VANGUARD-class submarines....

...

[rangerrebew]

  It is the certainty of unacceptable retaliation that is America’s main insurance against nuclear war....

  I wouldn't be surprised if some democrat gets a bill to stop the missile from being used without congressional approval.

[Fishrrman]

ranger wrote:
"I wouldn't be surprised if some democrat gets a bill to stop the missile from being used without congressional approval"

Isn't that not-so-far from what they're proposing now, with a "no first nuclear strike" bill in the House?