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See LAX Cryptic Advisory Just Hours Before Missile Test (Might We See More?); Here's Dept. of Defense Statement And Backup Info, Incl. VIDEO of Missile


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(Nov. 8, 2015, 5:40 p.m.) -- Following-up on the classified Navy missile test -- which became visible to millions of people in So. Cal and part of Arizona (LBREPORT.com had the photo (below) from Charlie McGrail on our front page within a few minutes) -- LBREPORT.com provides the full text of a statement issued by the Pentagon and notes that Los Angeles International Airport issued a cryptic advisory (text below) a few hours earlier. LAX states that the military airspace to its west "will be active for one week" -- meaning through November 12 -- which leads us to wonder if we'll see more missile tests in the coming days.


Photo by Charlie McGrail

[Nov. 6 LAX advisory text] -- Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) officials report that the Federal Aviation Administration’s LAX Tower indicates that the military airspace to the west of LAX will be active for one week, creating traffic route limitations and requiring LAX to temporarily deviate from Over-Ocean Operations. The deviations begin tonight, November 6,and continue through November 12.

LAX normally operates in Over-Ocean Operations from midnight to 6:30 a.m., wherein aircraft arrive and depart over the ocean to minimize noise disturbance to the communities directly east of the airport.

Active military airspace will require the airport to temporarily deviate from this air traffic flow configuration and to remain in westerly operations (aircraft arriving and departing westbound) for the next seven nights.

As a result, persons living near the airport may notice a change in aircraft flight activity and associated noise, airport officials said.

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Here's what it looked like to a YouTube user from San Onofre.

LBREPORT.com (and multiple outlets) figured out fairly quickly that it was a missile test and some quoted a Pentagon spokesman. We requested a written statement from the Dept. of Defense...and received the following:

[DoD emailed statement] -- As you may have seen in press and social media reports Navy Strategic Systems Programs conducted scheduled Trident II (D5) missile test flight at sea from USS Kentucky, an Ohio Class SSBN, in the Pacific Test Range off the coast of Southern California. The tests were part of a scheduled, on-going system evaluation test. Launches are conducted on a frequent, recurring basis to ensure the continued reliability of the system. Each test activity provides valuable information about our systems, thus contributing to assurance in our capabilities.

The missile was not armed. Strategic Systems Programs does not routinely announce missile testing. Information regarding the test launch of Trident II (D5) missiles is classified prior to the launch.

So...what's the "Pacific Test Range" off the So. Cal Coast? Navair.navy.mil has the publicly available graphic below and details at this link.


Source: www.navair.navy.mil

And what's a Trident II (D5) missile? A Wikipedia page (here has the following (footnotes omitted here.)

[Wikipedia text] The Trident missile is a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) equipped with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV). The Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) is armed with thermonuclear warheads and is launched from nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs). Trident missiles are carried by fourteen active US Navy Ohio-class submarines, with US warheads, and four Royal Navy Vanguard-class submarines, with British warheads. The original prime contractor and developer of the missile was Lockheed Martin Space Systems. The missile is named after the mythological trident of Neptune.

In 2002, the United States Navy announced plans to extend the life of the submarines and the D5 missiles to the year 2040. This requires a D5 Life Extension Program (D5LEP), which is currently underway. The main aim is to replace obsolete components at minimal cost by using commercial off the shelf (COTS) hardware; all the while maintaining the demonstrated performance of the existing Trident II missiles. In 2007, Lockheed Martin was awarded a total of $848 million in contracts to perform this and related work, which also includes upgrading the missiles' reentry systems.[6] On the same day, Draper Labs was awarded $318 million for upgrade of the guidance system. Then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair was quoted as saying the issue would be fully debated in Parliament prior to a decision being taken. Blair outlined plans in Parliament on 4 December 2006, to build a new generation of submarines to carry existing Trident missiles, and join the D5LE project to refurbish them...

The total cost of the Trident program thus far came to $39.546 billion in 2011, with a cost of $70 million per missile.

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