The Military wants to convert sub-launched Trident-2 missiles into non-nuclear precision bombs that can be dropped anywhere on the planet.
The Pentagon is pressing Congress to approve the development of a new weapon that would enable the United States to carry out nonnuclear strikes against distant targets within an hour after a threat is detected.
The Pentagon plan calls for deploying a nonnuclear version of the submarine-launched Trident II missile that could be used to attack terrorist camps, enemy missile sites, suspected caches of biological, chemical or nuclear weapons and other potentially urgent threats, military officials say.
If deployed, it would be the only nonnuclear weapon designed for rapid strikes against targets thousands of miles away and would add to the president’s options when considering a pre- emptive attack.
I’m not the only one who thinks this is a bad idea.
weeeeelllll, you know, cruise missiles – the sort of which we lobbed at Osama in the 90s – can also carry nukes, so the “could be mistaken by nukes” argument doesnt seem to hold up to experience.
just don’t lob any over Russia or China, that’s all …
Subs can already launch non nuclear tomahawks, so I don’t see what the big deal is. As long as we don’t fire them at Russia or China, then we have nothing to worry about.
Sounds like an outlandishly expensive way to put chemical explosive on a target. I can imagine when you have a limited window of opportunity, this thing could hit the target within an hour after an order is given. Just how will China and Russia reacts when they start tracking an ICMB in flight? I think this thing is a MIRV platform so they could attack multiple targets.
Tomahawk cruise missiles can also carry nuclear payloads. As can B-1, B-2, and B-52 bombers.
They’ve all proven *extremely* effective, time and again, and there’s never been an ‘accidental deployment’ of nuclear force. My Spidey-sense tells me this argument is political in nature. Y’all want us to lose this war, plain and simple.
Non-Issue….
We already can lob Cruise Missles anywhere, anytime….
Just a way to use up extra nuclear missles that we probably (hopefully) will never need.
Only downside is that it’s one more very rapid (as in “zero thinking”) response device.
We can’t seem to tolerate casualties – this sort of missle has the same effect as a bomber, but none of our people are at risk. In that sense it helps.
The Navy is trying to think of new ways to use cold war era boomer subs. These boats were originally meant for one purpose – to launch nuclear tipped ICBMs. In the post 9-11 era, these boats look less and less useful.
The use of these big subs for precision strike may not sound cost effective to some but it is indicative of a boat searching for a new mission.
If you want to see something really bizarre, check out the Navy’s next submarine launched weapon. It is called the Cormorant and it is basically a unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is fired from a missile launch tube:
http://www.livescience.com/technology/060301_spy_plane.html
http://www.military.com/soldiertech/0,14632,SoldierTech_060323_cormorant,,00.html
After launch from the missile tube, it would pop out its wings, fly around, and either relay video images to the sub or possible drop ordinance on a target. The UAV would then return to the boat by dropping into the water where it is brought back into the sub’s launch tube by robotics.
It’s a wild concept that might even work!
The problem with cruise missiles right now is that they are not fast enough, you can hear them coming and limited range.
There’s a big difference between a cruise missle and a Trident missile. Cruise missiles are a low altitude weapon compared to the Tridents.
You’ve all heard about that 700,000 pound bomb that they keep putting off testing in Nevada haven’t you? Well, you don’t think it really exists as 700,000 pounds of C4 do you? The biggest plane in the world (the AN 225) couldn’t lift it off the ground. In reality, it is the equivalent of something moderately large coming in from space at a very high speed. Remember one-half m v squared? A true bolt from the blue, anywhere, any time, courtesy of the USN.
With no remaining purpose for ‘boomers’ (Nuclear Missile launching submarines) the Navy is desperate to find some reason for keeping them operational. And of course the defense contractors say ‘Yep, this is a great idea, it will make our country more secure, for only a few billion dollars in conversion costs.’
The only problem with the plan is that nuclear missiles are only accurate within a few 100 feet of a target, and a conventional warhead of a few hundred pounds (the available payload) needs basically pinpoint accuracy.
Support for this program will be out there, but only by those easily misled or ignorant enough to believe that it actually has some practical use, just like this whole missile interceptor (remember Star Wars?) program… so far several billion ‘invested’, and a bunch of rigged tests that all failed.
10 . The Nevada explosion is an above ground Nuclear test simulation. It has nothing to do with kinetic energy. Terminal velocity on a freefalling object, even from space… remember watching that ‘solar wind’ thing that crashed into Nevada a year ago? Buried itself a whole 4 feet into the ground, with no chutes deployed or anything slowing it down.
Oh, it’s probably already a done-deal. Let’s see: two items in the news this week, new missile, new huge bomb (warhead). This stuff doesn’t get in the news to seek USA citizens’ approval, it’s in the news to let us know it’s already been done.
By the way, the bomb doesn’t weigh 700,000 pounds. That’s the blast yield equivalent of TNT, same as what’s used to measure nukes. You don’t think a 10 Megaton nuke warhead actually weighs 20,000,000,000 pounds, do ya? The space shuttle only weighs about 4,500,000 pounds. Gotta luv da edukashun inn Amerika!
The only good news was (AP story follows):
‘Divine Strake’ Blast at Nevada Test Site Delayed Indefinitely
The federal government has indefinitely postponed a planned explosion that was expected to generate a mushroom cloud over the Nevada desert.
Officials say the delay will allow more time to answer questions about the blast — which opponents fear would kick up radioactive fallout left from nuclear weapons tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site (about 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas).
National Nuclear Security Administration spokesman Darwin Morgan says the test will be scheduled at a later date, depending on legal action.
The Winnemucca Indian Colony and several Nevada and Utah “downwinders” have filed suit in U-S District Court in Las Vegas to block the non-nuclear blast.
The lawsuit contends the federal government failed to complete required environmental studies before planning to detonate a 700-ton ammonium nitrate and fuel oil bomb.
The federal Defense Threat Reduction Agency has said the explosion would help gather data about penetrating hardened and deeply buried targets.
Critics have called it a surrogate for a low-yield nuclear “bunker-buster” bomb.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
“With no remaining purpose for ‘boomers’ (Nuclear Missile launching submarines)”
Awake, are you kidding??? Last time I checked Russia is still armed to the teeth with nukes and whos leader is an old time communist who would love nothing more then to bring his country back to glory days of the USSR. Then there is China, still communist ruled. North Korea, and soon Iran. The whole point of sub launched weapons were there ability to hide from the enemy and to have something to strike back with if our silos and bombers were destroyed. It was part of triad of Mutual Assured Destruction and its whats kept this country alive through the cold war. Russia still has it sub fleet in tact, wouldn’t it be stupid to scrap ours!
My last post on this topic never showed up. It was a post in response to John McDowell’s post in #10. My post contained factual information about conventional weapons that have been used in the past and about some of the newest conventional weapons that are currently being tested. It is directly related to post #10.
Did the comment never arrive or was it deleted without being displayed?
Just curious.
make the precision non-nuke missiles
smart bombs have saved a lot of lives when militarty targets next door had to be destroyed.
Save the nukes for Iran
In fact make a bunch more – bigger too
Well, the post had to do with the “700,000 pound” bomb. I just wanted to point out, as has since been noted, that no bomb that size could ever be dropped by any aircraft on the planet.
I think the bomb in question may have been the MOP or Massive Ordinance Penetrator which weighs in at 30,000 lbs. The MOP is an evolution of the GBU-43/B MOAB (Mother of All Bombs) and BLU-82 Commando Vault (aka Daisy Cutter).
Check out GlobalSecurity.org if anyone is interested:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/dshtw.htm
OOPS!