The enclosed website provides a complete analysis of the Cost of operating the 18 trident submarines in the USN.
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship ... -726cl.htmQuestion of cost of a Trident D-5 missile can be estimated based on Legislative debate in 1998. When production termination was under debate. based on this data:
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/slbm/970620-cr.htmQuote: In order to comply with the START II Treaty, the Navy is planning to retire four of the older subs carrying the C-4 missiles, but the Navy is currently planning to back-fit the other four with the new D-5 missiles. Although the Navy has already an inventory of 350 D-5 missiles, it nevertheless plans to procure an additional 84 Trident D-5's through the year 2005, unless Congress intercedes.
We believe the responsible course is for our Navy to cancel the proposed back-fit of the older C-4 subs and, over time, reduce its fleet of Ohio-class submarines to 10 vessels. With a fleet of 10 Ohio-class submarines carrying the new D-5 missiles, the Navy will no longer need the additional 84 missiles they have requested through fiscal year 2005. The current inventory of 350 missiles will be sufficient, 240 for the 10 Trident D-5 subs and 110 for testing purposes.
There are very important reasons why this amendment should be approved by the House of Representatives. The Trident D-5 missile is a cold war weapon specifically designed to destroy hardened missile silos and other military targets found in the former Soviet Union. But today the nuclear threat from the former Soviet Union is dramatically reduced.
While there is still an important role for strategic nuclear weapons in our arsenal, that role is dramatically reduced from what it was in the past, and weapon procurement should reflect that.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this amendment would save taxpayers with this act this year and with future subsequent acts more than $5.7 billion over 10 years, including $342 million in fiscal year 1998. This savings would then be available for personnel readiness and military training purposes or to reduce the deficit. UNQUOTE
The cost of foregoing production of 84 missiles was estimated to save 342M dollars in 1998, with 5.7 billion over ten years. So I will allow you to figure out costs per missile based on initial production costs of 570 million per year for a production run of 84 missiles from 1998 to 2005.
kevin