The UGM-89 Perseus was a proposed

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

submarine-launched anti-ship (AShM) and anti-submarine (ASW)

cruise missile A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhe ...

that was developed under the Submarine Tactical Missile (STAM) project, which was also referred to as the Submarine Anti-ship Weapon System (STAWS). This missile system was to be the centerpiece for a proposed third-generation nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine championed by then-Vice Admiral

Hyman G. Rickover Hyman G. Rickover (January 27, 1900 – July 8, 1986) was an admiral in the U.S. Navy. He directed the original development of naval nuclear propulsion and controlled its operations for three decades as director of the U.S. Naval Reactors offic ...

, the influential but controversial head of the Navy's nuclear propulsion program.

Development

The Navy issued the STAM requirement in March 1969, and the Lockheed Missiles and Space Company (LMSC) responded to this proposal, which included the formation of an undersea warfare program organization in

Sunnyvale, California Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwest Santa Clara County in the U.S. state of California. Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real and Highway 101 and is bordered by portions of San Jose to the nort ...

. It is unclear if this was to be an entirely new organization or part of the Lockheed Underwater Missile Facility (LUMF) which had been responsible for the design and development of the

Polaris Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris ( Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an apparent magnitude that ...

Poseidon Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ch ...

, and

Trident A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other marine ...

submarine-launched strategic ballistic missile (SLBM) systems for the U.S. Navy. In February 1970, the

missile designation In 1963, the United States Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Defense established a designation system for rockets and guided missiles jointly used by all the United States armed services. It superseded the separate designation systems the Ai ...

ZUGM-89A Perseus was reserved for the U.S. Navy presumably for the STAM/STAWS missile development program.

Design overview

Because of its large size, the UGM-89 Perseus missile could not be launched from the Navy's standard submarine

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s, but would be carried in a vertical launch system (VLS) housed within the proposed cruise missile submarine's hull. Twenty VLS tubes would be located in a separate compartment situated between the submarine's operations and reactor compartments. The individual launcher tube would be in dimension. The missile

warhead A warhead is the forward section of a device that contains the explosive agent or toxic (biological, chemical, or nuclear) material that is delivered by a missile, rocket, torpedo, or bomb. Classification Types of warheads include: * Explosiv ...

payload Payload is the object or the entity which is being carried by an aircraft or launch vehicle. Sometimes payload also refers to the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight. Depending on the nature of ...

would be a new 21-inch (533 mm) diameter

homing torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...

to be developed concurrently with the UGM-89 Perseus missile. By 1971, the STAM project had evolved into a long-range advanced

(ACM) program capable of undertaking a variety of combat missions, including strategic nuclear strike ''(see table below)''. The proposed ACM versions of the UGM-89 Perseus STAM would use a slightly enlarged launch tube (, and 1979 would have been the date for its initial operational capability (IOC).

Cancellation

The UGM-89 Perseus missile system was cancelled in 1973, and its proposed nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine platform was officially cancelled in 1974, with the Navy deciding to build the less expensive ''Los Angeles''-class nuclear-powered attack submarines, which would subsequently carry both the

Harpoon A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument and tool used in fishing, whaling, seal hunting, sealing, and other marine hunting to catch and injure large fish or marine mammals such as seals and whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the t ...

and

Tomahawk A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Indigenous peoples and nations of North America. It traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. In pre-colonial times the head was made of stone, bone, or antler, and Europ ...

cruise missiles. The ASW component of the UGM-89 Perseus would later serve as the baseline for the proposed Sea Lance stand-off ASW missile system, which would also be cancelled.

Notes

References

* * *

External links

UGM-89 Perseus
- Directory of US Military Rockets and Missiles
UGM-89 Perseus
- Harpoon series

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Missile Design Series
- GlobalSecurity.org

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