Posted by Defense Springboard in Air Force, Foreign Policy, NavyTags: ballistic missiles, Iran, missile defense, Prompt Global Strike, Saudi Arabia, Trident
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So, it seems the 131st consecutive successful Trident test flight (*) went off in an epic fashion! In Saudi!
That’s…unprecedented.
(UPDATE: Looks like the story is getting walked back a bit…the AP’s source, “A Western military official in Saudi Arabia” is being contradicted by Pentagon spokespersons–who say there was no launch of any kind.)
How, exactly, does one test a “submarine-launched ballistic missile” from Saudi territory?
“The United States test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads during a joint military exercise Wednesday with Saudi Arabia, a Western military official said.
The Trident missile launch was carried out in the kingdom, the official said, but he would not give a precise location. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.”
Was this missile fired from a land-sharkesque Sand Sub? Did we ship a missile over for a launch from a Saudi facility? Or fire it from a sub elsewhere?
I mean, while this may explain why some Tehran IP addresses have been, ah, oh, rather avid consumers of my home-blog, NextNavy.com, I really wonder what is going on here.
What an odd story….If this missile launched from the Saudi’s sandy seas, at a Saudi launch facility, then…I must ask: Do we really want to export this kind of strike platform? There?
Really?
We need to know more.
A lot more–Did America conduct an unprecedented Persian Gulf/Red Sea/Indian Ocean launch….for a missile defense test? Or is this the new face of Prompt Global Strike–a little project you can read more about in April’s USNI Proceedings)?
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(*) Estimated. H/T: Warisboring.com
Posted by Defense Springboard in Air Force, Foreign Policy, NavyTags: ballistic missiles, Iran, missile defense, Prompt Global Strike, Saudi Arabia, Trident
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6 Responses to “Another Trident Test….In Saudi Arabia?! (Update: Or Not?)”
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Can we say: “April Fools”?
March 31st, 2010 at 8:51 PMSnerk. Si se puede!
March 31st, 2010 at 8:53 PMI *seriously* do not see this happening and deeply suspect the “source.” From first hand experience, for starters, we don’t just hose off a Trident any where without first going through a notification process and issue flight bans and NOTMs (unless it is really in anger — then I probably wouldn’t be sitting here writing this…). When we do fire a Trident, it is from a range to an instrumented test range so that we can collect information on the entirety of flight. Thinking about the location of those ranges and a (hypothetical) shot form the AG/PG/NAS/Red Sea (???!!!) and corresponding trajectories — nah, just not passing the smell test.
March 31st, 2010 at 9:03 PMAnything else is just a (monumental) waste of scarce dollars.
w/r, SJS
P.S. Did anyone at the Post happen to check the date on the press release by this so-called “Western military spokesman”? coughaprilfoolscough….
Yeah…crazy story, eh?
March 31st, 2010 at 11:32 PMThey launched a Trident from within the Kingdom? How? I mean, they sure didn’t pull an Ohio boat ashore. That leaves either the Gulf or the Red Sea as launch points. And I’d be shocked to learn they launched a Trident from those waters.
Now, an Ohio SSGN in those areas would make sense.
We need more information.
October 25th, 2010 at 2:21 AM[...] March 31, 2010: Another Trident test….In Saudi Arabia?! (Update: Or not?) [...]
December 14th, 2010 at 9:51 PM