Trident 2 Missile Misfires During Test Flight, Is Destroyed

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — An unarmed Trident 2 submarine missile misfired Monday and was deliberately destroyed by a radio signal from the ground about a minute after it lifted off on a test flight from a land launch pad.

The failure was the third in 15 test firings for the missile being groomed as the most powerful in the Navy’s nuclear arsenal.

The Navy reported about 20 minutes after the 1:45 p.m. launch that the Trident 2 developed a problem in the second stage and that the range safety officer had sent a signal to blow up the missile to prevent it from veering into populated areas.

It marked the second time in the last three launches that one of the $23.7-million missiles had to be destroyed by the safety officer.

The 44-foot, three-stage weapon has a range of nearly 6,000 miles, but the Navy declined to disclose how far the unarmed warhead package was to have traveled Monday.

Each Trident 2 is designed to hurl up to 10 nuclear warheads to different targets.

Five more land launches are scheduled, to be followed by at least five test launches from submerged submarines. It was not known if the latest failure would have an impact on the schedule.