Submarine Weapon Able to Ruin Missile Silos Tested

A Trident 2 missile roared off a land launch pad Thursday in a successful maiden test flight of a submarine weapon said to be powerful and accurate enough to destroy nuclear-hardened missile silos and command centers.

About 25 nuclear protesters who had vowed to stop the test wailed, beat their heads and fell to the ground as the 44-foot missile blasted off and hurled a dummy warhead to an Atlantic Ocean target several thousand miles to the southeast.

Nineteen people were arrested, and one demonstrator was reported in stable condition after suffering a seizure that may have been a heart attack, authorities said.

‘Operated as Advertised’

A Navy spokesman, Lt. Cmdr. Bob Prichard, said the missile scored “a complete success. It operated as advertised.”

Although the launch was not announced in advance, about 75 demonstrators gathered at the main Cape Canaveral gate Thursday morning, and some tried to block traffic by linking arms in the middle of the road. The Air Force closed the gate and diverted workers to a nearby entrance.

The test was the first of 20 scheduled from a land pad, and others are planned about every 40 days. That series of tests will be followed by 10 submarine-launched tests before the missile becomes operational in 1989.

Range of 6,900 Miles

The Trident 2, or D-5, is an intercontinental-range missile capable of striking targets 6,900 miles away. It is more accurate than its undersea predecessors, Polaris, Poseidon and Trident I. The Navy says it can match the targeting ability of land-based missiles even though it is launched from a submerged, moving submarine.

Critics say the Reagan Administration’s decision to pursue development of the Trident 2 will turn the nation’s missile submarines into “first-strike” weapons, undermining the deterrent balance with the Soviet Union.

The Trident 2 can carry up to 10 independently targetable nuclear warheads, two more than the earlier Trident 1. Each Trident submarine carries 24 missiles.