HMS Vanguard, one of the Royal Navy’s four Trident nuclear weapon-carrying submarines, will shortly conduct the test firing of an unarmed Trident D5 ballistic missile in the Atlantic Ocean.

According to a publicly accessible navigation warning, the launch will take place between the 30th of January and the 4th of February with United States Navy support at the US Eastern Test Range off the coast of Florida.

We have asked the Ministry of Defence for more information.

The main aim of these tests is to assess the readiness of the SSBN’s strategic weapon system and its crew prior to its operational deployment. These test launches, performed regularly, serve to evaluate and maintain the reliability and precision of the strategic weapon system. It is essential to note that the missiles used during tests are not armed. The prime concern remains the safety of the public and the crew involved. The missile’s trajectory during this test will remain entirely over the sea, ensuring no risk to any land areas.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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9 COMMENTS

  1. When I was based on Ascension Island the US used to test its Trident Missiles nearby, they would declare a no movement zone around the Island, bring in loads of aircraft (C17s, Hawkeyes etc) and then lob their missiles in our direction on a night. We (A gang of us from the mess) would travel up the hill to the BBC bar at Two Boats (Highest bar on the Island, which had a outside veranda which overlooked the entire Island and we would watch the fireworks display. Very much like the clip from Terminator 2 where Sarah Connor sat in the play ground watched the nuke missiles come down, thankfully in our case there was no nuke payload.

    Looking at the red dots on the above map they are all on the flight path to Assi

        • Surprisingly there is a pretty good amount of footage on youtube of these tests- for the best i’ve found search on youtube:

          ” Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) – MIRV Reentry Compilation | Part I “

          there is a part II also which I think is even more impressive as it really shows off the accuracy – some of them impact right in front of where the camera is. Also the test rounds (maybe not all of them?) are fitted with the conventional explosive part of the warhead so you’ll notice some exploding at different distances above the ground.

          Hopefully those will bring back some memories for these lucky enough to have seen it in person on Ascension island! Really mind blowing technology considering they don’t use GPS or something- the “bus” uses star navigation from what I understand and the “bus” carrying the warhead packages oscillates and releases the reentry vehicles from space at exactly the precise moment where they’ll simply go on an unguided ballistic path to an exact spot on earth.

          The new superfuse warheads on the trident MIRVs blew my mind when i read how they work. its considered so effective at targeting enemy ICBMs that a lot of ‘experts’ think it is so destabilizing in regards to MAD that it actually increases the chances of nuclear war as china or russia may view a first strike a necessity

          https://thebulletin.org/2017/03/how-us-nuclear-force-modernization-is-undermining-strategic-stability-the-burst-height-compensating-super-fuze/

    • On ascension island 🏝️? You poor soul. Did you get to play on the golf course and its crushed sand and diesel ‘greens'(called browns)😁😁?

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