Class Improvements
Improvements in the James Madison class included the ballistic missile, guidance, fire control, navigation, and launcher systems. The improved missile system introduced was the Polaris A3 missile. The A3 was restricted by size because it had to fit into the existing submarine launch tube. But it was 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) longer, weighed 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg) more, and had a range 1,000 nautical miles (1,900 km) farther than the A2. Additionally, the number of reentry systems was increased from 1 to 3, making this the first multiple reentry vehicle missile.
The guidance, fire control, and navigation systems were improved to account for the longer range of the A3 missile. The launcher system was improved by replacing the liquid springs on which the launch tube rested with polyurethane foam.
Read more about this topic: James Madison Class Submarine
Famous quotes containing the words class and/or improvements:
“We must not discriminate between things. Where things are concerned there are no class distinctions. We must pick out what is good for us where we can find it.”
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
“I was interested to see how a pioneer lived on this side of the country. His life is in some respects more adventurous than that of his brother in the West; for he contends with winter as well as the wilderness, and there is a greater interval of time at least between him and the army which is to follow. Here immigration is a tide which may ebb when it has swept away the pines; there it is not a tide, but an inundation, and roads and other improvements come steadily rushing after.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)