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The
US fleet of 18 nuclear-armed Trident submarines represents a threat to
the rest of the world that no other weapons system can rival. The
Trident system not only comprises the entire sea-based leg of the US "strategic
nuclear triad" (ground-based missiles and air-launched bombs being the
other two), but also is becoming the dominant leg in an increasingly lopsided
"triad."
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Because of several unique features,
Trident has trumped both ground-based and air-based nuclear weapons, making
them obsolete.
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Destabilizing first-strike ability
Trident is dangerous because the Trident
nuclear weapons system has achieved what the US has quested for throughout
the arms race: the ability to launch a debilitating nuclear first
strike. Because of several unique features, Trident has trumped
both ground-based and air-based nuclear weapons, making them obsolete.
This puts potential adversaries in grave danger of becoming victims of
a nuclear first strike and does little to calm the worries of these
potential adversaries, bogging down disarmament efforts such as START II,
and even encouraging them to develop and deploy new weapons of mass destruction.
(As the recent actions of India and Pakistan have proven so well. Ed.)
With a first-strike system continually on alert, breathing down the necks
of other countries, Trident may even make potential adversaries "jump the
gun," so to speak, launching their missiles out of panic.
This last scenario almost happened
Jan. 25, 1995, when a research rocket launched from Norway was thought
to be the first of an incoming nuclear attack from a Trident in the North
Atlantic. Russian military officials and President Yeltsin, for the
first time |
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ever,
activated the "nuclear briefcase" to order a nuclear retaliation.
They had less than ten minutes to decide whether or not to launch such
a retaliation. Luckily, the rocket's trajectory headed out to sea
and accidental nuclear war was narrowly averted.
This is only the most recent example
of what the presence of first-strike nuclear weapons causes. The
nuclear age is littered with more close-calls and near-catastrophes than
most of us want to think about, dating back to the days when a real first-strike
weapon didn't even yet exist.
The existence of Trident as the world's
only weapons system capable of launching a debilitating first-strike makes
the possibility of accidental nuclear war frighteningly real. Its
existence also makes the possibility of a planned, intentional nuclear
attack by the US on another country--and not necessarily one with nuclear
weapons, as was recently demonstrated in the crisis with Iraq--very possible,
quite probable, and all the more harrowing.
What enables the Trident nuclear
weapons system to be a first-strike weapon?
· Trident
submarines are stealthy, mobile missile silos, which can launch their missiles
from surprise locations, often so close that it takes missiles only 10-15
minutes to reach their targets, as compared to 30 minutes for ground-based
missiles.
· The
Trident fleet is armed with 3,456 highly destructive and accurate nuclear
warheads, which could destroy "hardened targets," such as deeply-buried
ground-based missiles, and reinforced command, control, and communi- cation
centers, before they could mobilize a nuclear retaliation.
· The
Trident fleet and its missiles have sophisticated communication |
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and
navigation systems, which further enhance Trident's stealth and accuracy,
providing the reliability necessary to launch a debilitating nuclear first-strike.
Stealth and surprise
The stealth of Trident submarines is
one of its key attributes as a first-strike weapon. As Rear Admiral
Jerry Ellis, commander of submarine forces in the Pacific, said in an April
1997 visit to Bangor: "If you tie a submarine up at the pier, it's
no longer a deterrent--it's a target."
Ellis is here using the word "deterrent"
in a cavalier way. Actually, given that Tridents can still launch
their missiles from port, a docked Trident would be the equivalent of a
ground-based nuclear missile, which actually fits the true definition of
"deterrent" better than a Trident lurking under the sea.
What Ellis inadvertently revealed was
the fact that a Trident submarine's true potential as a first-strike weapon
requires it to be hidden, undetected, location unknown, under the ocean's
surface, close to its targets. It is only from this vantage point
that a surprising, debilitating first-strike can be launched.
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It is only from this vantage point
that a surprising, debilitating first-strike can be launched.
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War-ready warheads
The number, power, and accuracy of
the nuclear warheads fitted onto the Trident missiles on board each submarine
is another attribute well-suited to launching a nuclear first-strike.
A debilitating nuclear first-strike depends on the ability to destroy--on
the ground--any weapons and command/control/communication centers that
could be used to retaliate. This requires extremely accurate and
very powerful warheads, as well as
(Continued
on page 4)
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