UGM-27 Polaris
Encyclopedia
The Polaris missile was a two-stage solid-fuel nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missile
(SLBM) built during the Cold War
by Lockheed Corporation
of California
for the United States Navy
.
It was designed to be used as part of the Navy's contribution to the United States arsenal of nuclear weapons, replacing the Regulus cruise missile. Known as a Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM), the Polaris was first launched from the Cape Canaveral, Florida
, missile test base on January 7, 1960.
Following the Polaris Sales Agreement
in 1963, Polaris missiles were also carried on British
Royal Navy
submarines between 1968 and the mid-1990s.
Plans to equip the Italian Navy
with the missile ended in the mid-60s, after several successful test launches carried out on board an Italian cruiser
, as an effect of the resolution of the Cuban missile crisis
.
The Polaris missile was gradually replaced in the US Navy by the Poseidon
missile, beginning in 1972. During the 1980s, these missiles were replaced on the ten newest missile submarines by the Trident I missile.
Many new project management techniques were introduced during the development of the Polaris missile program, to deal with the inherent system complexity. This includes the use of the Program Evaluation and Review Technique PERT. This technique replaced the simpler Gantt Chart
methodology which was largely employed prior to this program.
. At Edward Teller
's prompting, the Navy's "Jupiter" missile plans were abandoned in favor of the much smaller, solid-fuel-propelled Polaris.
Originally, the Navy favored cruise missile systems in a strategic role as deployed on the earlier USS Grayback
, but a major drawback of these early cruise missile launch systems (and the Jupiter proposals) was the need to surface, and remain surfaced for some time, to launch. Submarines were very vulnerable to attack during launch, and a fully or partially fueled missile on deck was a serious hazard. Rough weather was another major drawback for these designs, but rough sea conditions did not unduly affect Polaris launches.
It quickly became apparent solid-fueled ballistic missiles had advantages over cruise missiles in range and accuracy, and unlike both Jupiter and cruise, were able to be launched from a submerged submarine, improving submarine survivability.
The prime contractor for all three versions of Polaris was Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin.
The Polaris program started development in 1956. The USS George Washington
, the first US missile submarine, successfully launched the first Polaris missile from a submerged submarine on July 20, 1960. The A-2 version of the Polaris missile was essentially an upgraded A-1, and it entered service in late 1961. It was fitted on a total of 13 submarines and served until June 1974.(1). Ongoing problems with the W-47 warhead
, especially with its mechanical arming and safing equipment, led to large numbers of the missiles being recalled for modifications, and the U.S. Navy sought a replacement with either a larger yield or equivalent destructive power. The result was the W-58 warhead
used in a "cluster" of three warheads for the Polaris A-3, the final model of the Polaris missile.
effects while in the boost phase
. This was known as the A-3T ("Topsy") and was the final production model.
The first version, the Polaris A-1, had a range of 1000 nautical miles (1853 km) and a single Mk 1 re-entry vehicle, carrying a single W-47-Y1 600 kt nuclear warhead, with an inertial guidance system which provided a Circular error probable
(CEP) of 1800 meters (6000 ft). The two-stage solid propellant missile had a length of 28.5 ft (8.69 m), a body diameter of 54 in (1.37 m), and a launch weight of 28,800 lbs (13,090 kg).
The USS George Washington
was the first fleet ballistic missile submarine (SSBN
in U.S. naval terminology) and she and all of the other Polaris submarines carried 16 missiles. Forty more SSBNs were launched in 1960 to 1966.
Work on its W47
nuclear warhead began in 1957 at the facility that is now called the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
by a team headed by Edward Teller
and Harold Brown
. The Navy accepted delivery of the first 16 warheads in July 1960. On May 6, 1962, a Polaris missile with a live W47 warhead was tested in Operation Dominic
in the central Pacific Ocean
, the only American test of a live strategic nuclear missile. However, the warhead that was employed in this test had been designed to have a much-lower yield than the W47 warheads that were deployed for nuclear warfare
The two stages were both steered by thrust vectoring
. Inertial navigation guided the missile to about a 900 m (3,000 foot) CEP, insufficient for use against hardened targets. They were mostly useful for attacking dispersed military surface targets (airfields or radar sites), clearing a pathway for heavy bombers, although in the general public perception Polaris was a strategic second-strike retaliatory weapon.
strikes, as few systems had the accuracy to destroy missile systems. The primary advantages of ballistic missile submarines was their ability to launch submerged, which offered improved survivability for the submarine while also (like their Regulus predecessors) move shorter ranged systems within range.
The USN had forward-basing arrangements for its Atlantic-based Polaris fleet with both the United Kingdom
and Spain permitting the use of bases at the Holy Loch
in Scotland and at Rota in the Bay of Cadiz that were much closer to patrol areas, avoiding the necessity for lengthy transit times from U.S. East Coast bases. This forward-basing arrangement was continued when Poseidon replaced Polaris. Polaris was not accurate enough to destroy hardened targets but would have been effective against dispersed surface targets, such as airfields, radar and SAM sites, as well as military and industrial centers of strategic importance. The military authorities, however, regarded Polaris as but one of a nuclear triad
, each with its own function. The task allotted to Polaris of 'taking out' peripheral defenses was well-suited to its characteristics and limitations.
s) which spread the warheads about a common target, and the B-3 was to have penetration aids to counter Soviet
Anti-Ballistic Missile
defenses. The B-3 missile evolved into the C-3 Poseidon missile, which abandoned the decoy concept in favor of using the C3's greater throw-weight for larger numbers (10-14) of new hardened high-re-entry-speed reentry vehicles that could overwhelm Soviet defences by sheer weight of numbers, and its high speed after re-entry. The abandoned decoy system for the B-3 (Antelope) was known to the UK where it was adopted and evolved into Super Antelope, KH.793 and later re-labeled Chevaline.
The British
became interested in Polaris after the cancellations of the Blue Streak
and Skybolt missiles in the 1960s. Under the 1962 Nassau Agreement
that emerged from meetings between Harold Macmillan
and John F. Kennedy
, the United States would supply Britain with Polaris missiles, launch tubes, ReBs, and the fire-control system
s. Great Britain would make its own warheads and submarines.
In return, the British agreed to assign control over their Polaris missile targeting to the SACEUR (Supreme Allied Commander, Europe), always an American, with the provision that in a national emergency when unsupported by the NATO allies, the targeting, permission to fire, and firing of those Polaris missiles would reside with the British national authorities. Nevertheless, the consent of the British Prime Minister is and has been always required for the use of British nuclear weapons, including the Polaris and Trident missiles.
Confusingly, the operational control of the Polaris submarines was assigned to another NATO Supreme Commander, the SACLANT (Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic), who is based near Norfolk, Virginia, although the SACLANT routinely delegated control or the missiles to his deputy commander in the Eastern Atlantic area, COMEASTLANT, who was always a British admiral. The Polaris Sales Agreement
was signed on April 6, 1963.
British Polaris submarines were the Resolution
-class ballistic missile
submarine
s. Although one boat of the four was always in a shipyard refitting, recent declassifications of archived files disclose that the Royal Navy deployed four boatloads of reentry vehicles and warheads, plus spare warheads for the Polaris A3T, retaining a limited ability to rather quickly re-arm and put to sea the Polaris boat that was in refit. When replaced by the Chevaline warhead, the sum total of deployed RVs & warheads reduced to three boatloads.
For the origins of the British Polaris program, see Peter Nailor
, The Nassau Connection (1988).
(ABM) defenses, but the Royal Navy had to ensure that its small Polaris force operating alone, and often with only one submarine on deterrent patrol, could penetrate the ABM screen around Moscow. The result was a programme called Chevaline
that added multiple decoys, chaff
, and other defensive countermeasure
s. Its existence was only revealed in 1980, partly because of the cost overruns of the project, which had almost quadrupled the original estimate given when the project was finally approved in January 1975. The system became operational in mid-1982 on the HMS Renown
, and the last British SSBN submarine was equipped with it in mid-1987. Withdrawn from service in 1996.
upgraded its nuclear missiles to the longer-ranged Trident missile
after much political wrangling within the Callaghan Labour Party
government over its cost and whether it was necessary. The outgoing Prime Minister James Callaghan
made his government's papers on Trident available to Margaret Thatcher
's new incoming Conservative Party
government, which took the decision to acquire the Trident C4 missile.
A subsequent decision to upgrade the missile purchase to the even larger, longer-ranged Trident D5 missile was possibly taken to ensure that there was missile commonality between the U.S. Navy and the Royal Navy
, which was considerably important when the Royal Navy Trident submarines were also to use the missile-submarine repair and maintenance naval base at Kings Bay, Georgia
.
[Even though the U.S. Navy initially deployed the Trident C4 missile in the original set of its Ohio-class submarines, it was always planned to upgrade all of these submarines to the larger and longer-ranged Trident D5 missile—and that eventually, all of the C4 missiles would be eliminated from the U.S. Navy. This change-over has been completely carried out, and no Trident C4 missiles remain in service.]
The Polaris missile remained in Royal Navy service long after it had been completely retired and scrapped by the U.S. Navy. Consequently many spare parts and repair facilities for the Polaris that were located in the U.S. ceased to be available. (Such as at the Lockheed Corporation
, which had moved on first to the Poseidon missile and then to the two versions of the Trident missile.) The United Kingdom had to have some production lines re-opened at its considerable expense, for example, to extend the life of its solid-fuel propellant motors.
The successful tests held in 1961-1962, induced the United States to study a NATO Multilateral Nuclear Force
(MLF), based on 25 international surface vessels from the US, United Kingdom, France, Italy, and West Germany, equipped with 200 Polaris nuclear missiles, enabling European allies to participate in the management of the NATO nuclear deterrent.
The MLF plan, as well as the Italian Polaris Program, were abandoned, both for political reasons (in consequence of the Cuban Missile Crisis
) and the initial operational availability of the first SSBN George Washington
, which demonstrated the possibility to launch effectively SLBMs, solution preferred to surface-launched missiles.
Italy developed a domestic new version of the missile, the SLBM designated Alfa. The program was cancelled in the 1975 after Italy signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
.
Submarine-launched ballistic missile
A submarine-launched ballistic missile is a ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead that can be launched from submarines. Modern variants usually deliver multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles each of which carries a warhead and allows a single launched missile to...
(SLBM) built during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
by Lockheed Corporation
Lockheed Corporation
The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:...
of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
for the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
.
It was designed to be used as part of the Navy's contribution to the United States arsenal of nuclear weapons, replacing the Regulus cruise missile. Known as a Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM), the Polaris was first launched from the Cape Canaveral, Florida
Cape Canaveral, Florida
Cape Canaveral is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The population was 8,829 at the 2000 census. As of 2008, the estimated population according to the U.S. Census Bureau was 10,147...
, missile test base on January 7, 1960.
Following the Polaris Sales Agreement
Polaris Sales Agreement
The Polaris Sales Agreement was an agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom which formally arranged for the Polaris missile system to be provided to the UK to maintain its independent nuclear deterrent. The arrangement had been set up in principle as a result of the Nassau Agreement...
in 1963, Polaris missiles were also carried on British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
submarines between 1968 and the mid-1990s.
Plans to equip the Italian Navy
Marina Militare
The Italian Navy is the navy of the Italian Republic. It is one of the four branches of military forces of Italy; formed in 1946, from what remained of the Regia Marina . As of 2008, the Italian Navy had 35,200 active personnel with 180 commissioned ships, 19 Floating Docks, and 123 aircraft...
with the missile ended in the mid-60s, after several successful test launches carried out on board an Italian cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
, as an effect of the resolution of the Cuban missile crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
.
The Polaris missile was gradually replaced in the US Navy by the Poseidon
UGM-73 Poseidon
The Poseidon missile was the second US Navy ballistic missile system, powered by a two-stage solid fuel rocket. It succeeded the Polaris missile beginning in 1972, bringing major advances in warheads and accuracy...
missile, beginning in 1972. During the 1980s, these missiles were replaced on the ten newest missile submarines by the Trident I missile.
Many new project management techniques were introduced during the development of the Polaris missile program, to deal with the inherent system complexity. This includes the use of the Program Evaluation and Review Technique PERT. This technique replaced the simpler Gantt Chart
Gantt chart
A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule. Gantt charts illustrate the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements of a project. Terminal elements and summary elements comprise the work breakdown structure of the project. Some Gantt charts...
methodology which was largely employed prior to this program.
History and development
The Polaris missile replaced an earlier plan to create a submarine-based missile force based on a huge surfaced submarine carrying four "Jupiter" missiles, which would be carried and launched horizontally. This Navy "Jupiter" missile is not to be confused with the U.S. Army Jupiter Intermediate-range ballistic missileIntermediate-range ballistic missile
An intermediate-range ballistic missile is a ballistic missile with a range of 3,000–5,500 km , between a medium-range ballistic missile and an intercontinental ballistic missile...
. At Edward Teller
Edward Teller
Edward Teller was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist, known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb," even though he did not care for the title. Teller made numerous contributions to nuclear and molecular physics, spectroscopy , and surface physics...
's prompting, the Navy's "Jupiter" missile plans were abandoned in favor of the much smaller, solid-fuel-propelled Polaris.
Originally, the Navy favored cruise missile systems in a strategic role as deployed on the earlier USS Grayback
USS Grayback (SSG-574)
USS Grayback , the lead ship of her class of submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the grayback, a small herring of great commercial importance in the Great Lakes....
, but a major drawback of these early cruise missile launch systems (and the Jupiter proposals) was the need to surface, and remain surfaced for some time, to launch. Submarines were very vulnerable to attack during launch, and a fully or partially fueled missile on deck was a serious hazard. Rough weather was another major drawback for these designs, but rough sea conditions did not unduly affect Polaris launches.
It quickly became apparent solid-fueled ballistic missiles had advantages over cruise missiles in range and accuracy, and unlike both Jupiter and cruise, were able to be launched from a submerged submarine, improving submarine survivability.
The prime contractor for all three versions of Polaris was Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin.
The Polaris program started development in 1956. The USS George Washington
USS George Washington (SSBN-598)
USS George Washington , the lead ship of her class of nuclear ballistic missile submarines, was the third United States Navy ship of the name, in honor of George Washington , first President of the United States, and the first of that name to be purpose-built as a warship.-Construction and...
, the first US missile submarine, successfully launched the first Polaris missile from a submerged submarine on July 20, 1960. The A-2 version of the Polaris missile was essentially an upgraded A-1, and it entered service in late 1961. It was fitted on a total of 13 submarines and served until June 1974.(1). Ongoing problems with the W-47 warhead
W47
The W47 was an American thermonuclear warhead used on the Polaris A-1 sub-launched ballistic missile system. Various models were in service from 1960 through the end of 1974...
, especially with its mechanical arming and safing equipment, led to large numbers of the missiles being recalled for modifications, and the U.S. Navy sought a replacement with either a larger yield or equivalent destructive power. The result was the W-58 warhead
W58
The W58 was an American thermonuclear warhead used on the Polaris A-3 submarine launched ballistic missile. Three W58 warheads were fitted as multiple warheads on each Polaris A-3 missile....
used in a "cluster" of three warheads for the Polaris A-3, the final model of the Polaris missile.
Polaris A-3
This missile replaced the earlier A-1 and A-2 models in the US Navy, and also equipped the British Polaris force. The A-3 had a range extended to 2,500 nautical miles (4,630 km) and a new weapon bay housing three Mk 2 re-entry vehicles (ReB or Re-Entry Body in US Navy and British usage); and the new W-58 warhead of 200 kt yield. This arrangement was originally described as a "cluster warhead" but was replaced with the term Multiple Re-Entry Vehicle (MRV). The three warheads were spread about a common target and were not independently targeted (such as a MIRV missile is). The three warheads were stated to be equivalent in destructive power to a single one-megaton warhead. Later the Polaris A-3 missiles (but not the ReBs) were also given limited hardening to protect the missile electronics against electromagnetic pulseElectromagnetic pulse
An electromagnetic pulse is a burst of electromagnetic radiation. The abrupt pulse of electromagnetic radiation usually results from certain types of high energy explosions, especially a nuclear explosion, or from a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field...
effects while in the boost phase
Boost phase
The boost phase is the portion of the flight of a ballistic missile or space vehicle during which the booster and sustainer engines operate until it reaches peak velocity. This phase can take 3 to 4 minutes , the altitude at the end of this phase is 150–200 km, and the typical burn-out speed...
. This was known as the A-3T ("Topsy") and was the final production model.
Polaris A-1
Circular error probable
In the military science of ballistics, circular error probable is an intuitive measure of a weapon system's precision...
(CEP) of 1800 meters (6000 ft). The two-stage solid propellant missile had a length of 28.5 ft (8.69 m), a body diameter of 54 in (1.37 m), and a launch weight of 28,800 lbs (13,090 kg).
The USS George Washington
USS George Washington (SSBN-598)
USS George Washington , the lead ship of her class of nuclear ballistic missile submarines, was the third United States Navy ship of the name, in honor of George Washington , first President of the United States, and the first of that name to be purpose-built as a warship.-Construction and...
was the first fleet ballistic missile submarine (SSBN
Ballistic missile submarine
A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine equipped to launch ballistic missiles .-Description:Ballistic missile submarines are larger than any other type of submarine, in order to accommodate SLBMs such as the Russian R-29 or the American Trident...
in U.S. naval terminology) and she and all of the other Polaris submarines carried 16 missiles. Forty more SSBNs were launched in 1960 to 1966.
Work on its W47
W47
The W47 was an American thermonuclear warhead used on the Polaris A-1 sub-launched ballistic missile system. Various models were in service from 1960 through the end of 1974...
nuclear warhead began in 1957 at the facility that is now called the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , just outside Livermore, California, is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center founded by the University of California in 1952...
by a team headed by Edward Teller
Edward Teller
Edward Teller was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist, known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb," even though he did not care for the title. Teller made numerous contributions to nuclear and molecular physics, spectroscopy , and surface physics...
and Harold Brown
Harold Brown (Secretary of Defense)
Harold Brown , American scientist, was U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1977 to 1981 in the cabinet of President Jimmy Carter. He had previously served in the Lyndon Johnson administration as Director of Defense Research and Engineering and Secretary of the Air Force.While Secretary of Defense, he...
. The Navy accepted delivery of the first 16 warheads in July 1960. On May 6, 1962, a Polaris missile with a live W47 warhead was tested in Operation Dominic
Operation Dominic I and II
Operation Dominic was a series of 105 nuclear test explosions conducted in 1962 by the United States. Those conducted in the Pacific are sometimes called Dominic I. The blasts in Nevada are known as Dominic II. This test series was scheduled quickly, in order to respond in kind to the Soviet...
in the central Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, the only American test of a live strategic nuclear missile. However, the warhead that was employed in this test had been designed to have a much-lower yield than the W47 warheads that were deployed for nuclear warfare
The two stages were both steered by thrust vectoring
Thrust vectoring
Thrust vectoring, also thrust vector control or TVC, is the ability of an aircraft, rocket or other vehicle to manipulate the direction of the thrust from its engine or motor in order to control the attitude or angular velocity of the vehicle....
. Inertial navigation guided the missile to about a 900 m (3,000 foot) CEP, insufficient for use against hardened targets. They were mostly useful for attacking dispersed military surface targets (airfields or radar sites), clearing a pathway for heavy bombers, although in the general public perception Polaris was a strategic second-strike retaliatory weapon.
Strategic role
The Polaris A-1 missile was developed to complement the limited number of medium-range systems deployed throughout Europe. As those systems lacked the range to attack major Soviet targets, Polaris was developed to increase the level of nuclear deterrence. At this time there was little threat of counterforceCounterforce
In nuclear strategy, a counterforce target is one that has a military value, such as a launch silo for intercontinental ballistic missiles, an airbase at which nuclear-armed bombers are stationed, a homeport for ballistic missile submarines, or a command and control installation...
strikes, as few systems had the accuracy to destroy missile systems. The primary advantages of ballistic missile submarines was their ability to launch submerged, which offered improved survivability for the submarine while also (like their Regulus predecessors) move shorter ranged systems within range.
The USN had forward-basing arrangements for its Atlantic-based Polaris fleet with both the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Spain permitting the use of bases at the Holy Loch
Holy Loch
The Holy Loch is a sea loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland.Robertson's Yard at Sandbank, a village on the loch, was a major wooden boat building company in the late 19th and early 20th centuries....
in Scotland and at Rota in the Bay of Cadiz that were much closer to patrol areas, avoiding the necessity for lengthy transit times from U.S. East Coast bases. This forward-basing arrangement was continued when Poseidon replaced Polaris. Polaris was not accurate enough to destroy hardened targets but would have been effective against dispersed surface targets, such as airfields, radar and SAM sites, as well as military and industrial centers of strategic importance. The military authorities, however, regarded Polaris as but one of a nuclear triad
Nuclear triad
A nuclear triad refers to a nuclear arsenal which consists of three components, traditionally strategic bombers, ICBMs and SLBMs. The purpose of having a three-branched nuclear capability is to significantly reduce the possibility that an enemy could destroy all of a nation's nuclear forces in a...
, each with its own function. The task allotted to Polaris of 'taking out' peripheral defenses was well-suited to its characteristics and limitations.
Later versions
The later versions (the A-2, A-3, and B-3) were larger, weighed more, and had longer ranges than the A-1. The range increase was most important: The A-2 range was 1,500 nautical miles (2,779 km), the A-3 2,500 nautical miles (4,631 km), and the B-3 2,000 nautical miles (3,705 km). The A-3 featured multiple re-entry vehicles (MRVMultiple Reentry vehicle
A Multiple Reentry vehicle payload for a ballistic missile deploys multiple warheads in a pattern against a single target. The advantage of an MRV over a single warhead is that the damage produced in the center of the pattern is far greater than the damage possible from any single warhead in the...
s) which spread the warheads about a common target, and the B-3 was to have penetration aids to counter Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
Anti-Ballistic Missile
Anti-ballistic missile
An anti-ballistic missile is a missile designed to counter ballistic missiles .A ballistic missile is used to deliver nuclear, chemical, biological or conventional warheads in a ballistic flight trajectory. The term "anti-ballistic missile" describes any antimissile system designed to counter...
defenses. The B-3 missile evolved into the C-3 Poseidon missile, which abandoned the decoy concept in favor of using the C3's greater throw-weight for larger numbers (10-14) of new hardened high-re-entry-speed reentry vehicles that could overwhelm Soviet defences by sheer weight of numbers, and its high speed after re-entry. The abandoned decoy system for the B-3 (Antelope) was known to the UK where it was adopted and evolved into Super Antelope, KH.793 and later re-labeled Chevaline.
British Polaris
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
became interested in Polaris after the cancellations of the Blue Streak
Blue Streak missile
The Blue Streak missile was a British medium range ballistic missile . The Operational Requirement for the missile was issued in 1955 and the design was complete by 1957...
and Skybolt missiles in the 1960s. Under the 1962 Nassau Agreement
Nassau agreement
The Nassau Agreement, concluded on 22 December 1962, was a treaty negotiated between President John F. Kennedy for the United States and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan for the United Kingdom...
that emerged from meetings between Harold Macmillan
Harold Macmillan
Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC was Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 January 1957 to 18 October 1963....
and John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, the United States would supply Britain with Polaris missiles, launch tubes, ReBs, and the fire-control system
Fire-control system
A fire-control system is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director, and radar, which is designed to assist a weapon system in hitting its target. It performs the same task as a human gunner firing a weapon, but attempts to do so faster and more...
s. Great Britain would make its own warheads and submarines.
In return, the British agreed to assign control over their Polaris missile targeting to the SACEUR (Supreme Allied Commander, Europe), always an American, with the provision that in a national emergency when unsupported by the NATO allies, the targeting, permission to fire, and firing of those Polaris missiles would reside with the British national authorities. Nevertheless, the consent of the British Prime Minister is and has been always required for the use of British nuclear weapons, including the Polaris and Trident missiles.
Confusingly, the operational control of the Polaris submarines was assigned to another NATO Supreme Commander, the SACLANT (Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic), who is based near Norfolk, Virginia, although the SACLANT routinely delegated control or the missiles to his deputy commander in the Eastern Atlantic area, COMEASTLANT, who was always a British admiral. The Polaris Sales Agreement
Polaris Sales Agreement
The Polaris Sales Agreement was an agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom which formally arranged for the Polaris missile system to be provided to the UK to maintain its independent nuclear deterrent. The arrangement had been set up in principle as a result of the Nassau Agreement...
was signed on April 6, 1963.
British Polaris submarines were the Resolution
Resolution class submarine
The Resolution-class submarine armed with the Polaris missile was the United Kingdom's primary nuclear deterrent from the late 1960s to 1994, when they were replaced by the Vanguard-class submarine carrying the Trident II.-Background:...
-class ballistic missile
Ballistic missile
A ballistic missile is a missile that follows a sub-orbital ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering one or more warheads to a predetermined target. The missile is only guided during the relatively brief initial powered phase of flight and its course is subsequently governed by the...
submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s. Although one boat of the four was always in a shipyard refitting, recent declassifications of archived files disclose that the Royal Navy deployed four boatloads of reentry vehicles and warheads, plus spare warheads for the Polaris A3T, retaining a limited ability to rather quickly re-arm and put to sea the Polaris boat that was in refit. When replaced by the Chevaline warhead, the sum total of deployed RVs & warheads reduced to three boatloads.
For the origins of the British Polaris program, see Peter Nailor
Peter Nailor
Professor Peter Nailor was a civil servant university teacher, intellectual entrepreneur and raconteur, who served as Professor of Politics at the University of Lancaster, Professor of History at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, and Provost of Gresham College.-Early life and education:The...
, The Nassau Connection (1988).
Chevaline
The original U.S. Navy Polaris had not been designed to penetrate Anti-ballistic missileAnti-ballistic missile
An anti-ballistic missile is a missile designed to counter ballistic missiles .A ballistic missile is used to deliver nuclear, chemical, biological or conventional warheads in a ballistic flight trajectory. The term "anti-ballistic missile" describes any antimissile system designed to counter...
(ABM) defenses, but the Royal Navy had to ensure that its small Polaris force operating alone, and often with only one submarine on deterrent patrol, could penetrate the ABM screen around Moscow. The result was a programme called Chevaline
Chevaline
Chevaline was a system to improve the penetrability of the British Polaris missile warheads. Devised as an answer to the improved Soviet defences around Moscow, the system was intended to increase the probability that at least one warhead would penetrate the city's anti-ballistic missile defences,...
that added multiple decoys, chaff
Chaff (radar countermeasure)
Chaff, originally called Window by the British, and Düppel by the Second World War era German Luftwaffe , is a radar countermeasure in which aircraft or other targets spread a cloud of small, thin pieces of aluminium, metallized glass fibre or plastic, which either appears as a cluster of secondary...
, and other defensive countermeasure
Countermeasure
A countermeasure is a measure or action taken to counter or offset another one. As a general concept it implies precision, and is any technological or tactical solution or system designed to prevent an undesirable outcome in the process...
s. Its existence was only revealed in 1980, partly because of the cost overruns of the project, which had almost quadrupled the original estimate given when the project was finally approved in January 1975. The system became operational in mid-1982 on the HMS Renown
HMS Renown (S26)
HMS Renown was the third of the Royal Navy's Resolution-class ballistic missile submarines.Built by Cammell Laird and launched on 25 February 1967, she was decommissioned in 1996.- External links :*...
, and the last British SSBN submarine was equipped with it in mid-1987. Withdrawn from service in 1996.
Replacement
The British Ministry of DefenceMinistry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
upgraded its nuclear missiles to the longer-ranged Trident missile
Trident missile
The Trident missile is a submarine-launched ballistic missile equipped with multiple independently-targetable reentry vehicles . The Fleet Ballistic Missile is armed with nuclear warheads and is launched from nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines . Trident missiles are carried by fourteen...
after much political wrangling within the Callaghan Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
government over its cost and whether it was necessary. The outgoing Prime Minister James Callaghan
James Callaghan
Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC , was a British Labour politician, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980...
made his government's papers on Trident available to Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
's new incoming Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
government, which took the decision to acquire the Trident C4 missile.
A subsequent decision to upgrade the missile purchase to the even larger, longer-ranged Trident D5 missile was possibly taken to ensure that there was missile commonality between the U.S. Navy and the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, which was considerably important when the Royal Navy Trident submarines were also to use the missile-submarine repair and maintenance naval base at Kings Bay, Georgia
Kings Bay, Georgia
Kings Bay is a small unincorporated community located at 30.804 N, 81.560 W in Camden County on the southern coast of the U.S. state of Georgia....
.
[Even though the U.S. Navy initially deployed the Trident C4 missile in the original set of its Ohio-class submarines, it was always planned to upgrade all of these submarines to the larger and longer-ranged Trident D5 missile—and that eventually, all of the C4 missiles would be eliminated from the U.S. Navy. This change-over has been completely carried out, and no Trident C4 missiles remain in service.]
The Polaris missile remained in Royal Navy service long after it had been completely retired and scrapped by the U.S. Navy. Consequently many spare parts and repair facilities for the Polaris that were located in the U.S. ceased to be available. (Such as at the Lockheed Corporation
Lockheed Corporation
The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:...
, which had moved on first to the Poseidon missile and then to the two versions of the Trident missile.) The United Kingdom had to have some production lines re-opened at its considerable expense, for example, to extend the life of its solid-fuel propellant motors.
Italy
During its reconstruction program in 1957-1961, the Italian cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi was fitted for launch of four Polaris missiles, with launchers located in the aft part of the ship.The successful tests held in 1961-1962, induced the United States to study a NATO Multilateral Nuclear Force
Multilateral Force
The Multilateral Force was an American proposal to produce a fleet of submarines and warships, each manned by international NATO crews, and armed with multiple nuclear-armed Polaris ballistic missiles...
(MLF), based on 25 international surface vessels from the US, United Kingdom, France, Italy, and West Germany, equipped with 200 Polaris nuclear missiles, enabling European allies to participate in the management of the NATO nuclear deterrent.
The MLF plan, as well as the Italian Polaris Program, were abandoned, both for political reasons (in consequence of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
) and the initial operational availability of the first SSBN George Washington
USS George Washington (SSBN-598)
USS George Washington , the lead ship of her class of nuclear ballistic missile submarines, was the third United States Navy ship of the name, in honor of George Washington , first President of the United States, and the first of that name to be purpose-built as a warship.-Construction and...
, which demonstrated the possibility to launch effectively SLBMs, solution preferred to surface-launched missiles.
Italy developed a domestic new version of the missile, the SLBM designated Alfa. The program was cancelled in the 1975 after Italy signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to...
.
External links
- Lockheed Martin Polaris Website
- Federation of American Scientists history of A-1 Polaris; see also "a-2.htm," "a-3.htm," and "b-3.htm". (Now known to be an outdated source with many inaccuracies.)
- http://www.mcis.soton.ac.uk/Site_Files/pdf/nuclear_history/glossary.pdf University of Southampton, 2005.
- Dr R.Moore. A Glossary of British Nuclear Weapons. Prospero/Journal of BROHP. 2004.
- Dr F.Panton. The Unveiling of Chevaline. Prospero/Journal of BROHP. 2004.
- Dr F.Panton. Polaris Improvements and the Chevaline System. Prospero/Journal of BROHP. 2004.
- Dr Peter Jones Director, AWE (Ret). Chevaline Technical Programme. Prospero. 2005.
- Various authors - "The History of the UK Strategic Deterrent: The Chevaline Programme", Proceedings of a Guided Flight Group conference that took place on October 28, 2004, Royal Aeronautical SocietyRoyal Aeronautical SocietyThe Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a multidisciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community.-Function:...
. ISBN 1-85768-109-6. - The National Archives, London. Various declassified public-domain documents.
- Chuck Hansen. Swords of Armageddon. 1995.