Navy Contemplating New Missile For 'Time Critical' Strike

Defense Daily 06/17/05
author: Nathan Hodge

The Navy is contemplating an intermediate-range ballistic missile with a conventional warhead that could be carried aboard a converted Trident submarine, according to the director of the service's strategic systems programs.

Rear. Adm. Charles Young told an audience at a seminar hosted by the National Defense University Foundation that the Navy was thinking about developing a missile that would be tailored for a new mission of "time-critical" strike.

The missile would take only about 15 minutes from the time it is launched until it reaches the target, and would carry a penetrating warhead.

"If you've got a time-critical target, that is a great capability," Young said. "You don't need to have air superiority; as long as you're in the right area, you can do it."

In his remarks, Young outlined the range and payload of the new conventional missile, which would be able to travel about 1,500 nautical miles and could carry a payload of about 1,200 pounds. Its dimensions: about 34 feet tall, with a diameter of about 32 1/2 inches.

At that size, the missile would be able to fit in the launch tubes of an SSGN submarine, one of the Ohio-class (SSBN) ballistic missile submarines currently being refitted to carry Tomahawk missiles and special operations forces.