SPACE.com -- Weekend Trident 2 Missile Test Conducted Near Cape Canaveral

A submarine capable of launching Trident 2 missiles cruises through the water.

An unarmed Trident 2 missile is moved toward its launch pad for tests at Cape Canaveral.

An unarmed Trident 2 nuclear missile is launched from a submarine off the Florida coast.

A Lockheed Martin chart details the Fleet Ballistic Missiles built by the company.

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	Weekend Trident 2 Missile Test Conducted Near Cape Canaveral By Jim Banke Senior Producer, posted: 04:00 pm ET 18 March 2002

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- An unarmed Trident 2 nuclear missile was successfully test fired over the Atlantic Ocean from an offshore submarine this past weekend, officials said Monday.

Launched from the USS Alaska, the shot was part of a routine Demonstration and Shakedown Operation periodically conducted on the Eastern Range some 60 miles offshore of Florida's coast, east of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The test evaluates the readiness of the weapon system, crew and submarine for operational patrol and are not announced in advance.

The success was the 95th in a row for the Lockheed Martin-built Trident 2 Fleet Ballistic Missile.

"We are extremely proud of the perfect performance record of the Trident 2 missile system," Tom Morton, vice president of Strategic Missile Programs at Missiles & Space Operations in Sunnyvale, Calif., said in a prepared statement. "Achieving 95 consecutive successful test launches is truly a remarkable feat."

The weekend operation marked the first of four launches scheduled during the coming years as part of a Navy program to convert four Trident 1 Ohio-class fleet ballistic missile submarines to Trident 2 capability. The other three submarines are the USS Nevada, USS Henry M. Jackson and USS Alabama.

The USS Alaska will now return to the Pugent Sound Naval Shipyard for a three-month period of servicing and then be re-deployed in the Pacific Ocean early this summer, officials said.

The Trident 2 is a three-stage, solid-fueled missile with a range of greater than 4,600 miles (7,404 kilometers) and ability to carry up to eight reentry vehicles armed with nuclear warheads.

It is the sixth-generation of missiles developed by Lockheed Marting for the Navy -- a relationship that dates back to 1955 when the first version of the Polaris missile was ordered. Since then there have been three versions of the Polaris, one of the Poseidon and two of the Trident.

And thanks to a recent contract awarded the company, the Navy plans to rely on the production of Trident 2 missiles through 2013 and operate them through 2042.