10/15/2025
This insane missile costs $31,000,000 each, and for good reason: It carries nuclear warheads from under the water to the target. Here's how it works:
1) Target selection and mission files are prepared by naval command and the national command authority, then loaded into the submarine’s fire-control system. That system holds the encrypted targeting data and the launch plan; any actual launch requires authenticated authorizations and launch codes from higher headquarters.
2) Once authorized, the submarine’s crew configures the chosen missile tube and fire-control solution (range, azimuth, timing and guidance updates) and the missile is readied in its sealed canister for launch.
3) The Trident II is a three-stage, solid-propellant submarine-launched ballistic missile. It is ejected from its launch tube by a cold-launch ejection system (a gas/steam generator forces the missile out of the tube and through the water) and its first solid rocket stage ignites after the missile clears the submarine and water surface.
4) Throughout the boost and midcourse flight the missile relies on high-precision inertial navigation (with periodic external updates as part of the fire-control solution) to reach the planned release point.
5) After stage burnout the post-boost vehicle (often called the “bus”) performs attitude and velocity maneuvers to deploy its payload: one or more reentry vehicles (RVs), each containing a (nuclear) warhead, are released on separate trajectories so they will reenter and follow ballistic arcs to their individual aim points.
6) The RVs are protected by ablative heat shields during hypersonic reentry and then descend to the target under ballistic flight; the bus can also dispense decoys and pe*******on aids as part of the midcourse complex if configured to do so.
