Lockheed Martin Space Systems, one of the four major business divisions of Lockheed Martin, has received a $40,3 million contract modification for production of the latest generation of the U.S. Navy’s submarine-launched fleet ballistic missiles.
The contract modification, announced Monday by the U.S. Department of Defense, covers exercise options under a previously awarded contract for Trident II (D5) missile production and deployed systems support.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company is the Navy’s Trident missile prime contractor. Lockheed Martin employees, principally in California, Georgia, Florida, Washington, Utah, Virginia and Scotland, support the design, development, production, test, and operation and sustainment of the Trident Strategic Weapon System. The company also supplies technical and logistical support at sites where the missiles are deployed.
The Trident II (D5) is the latest generation of the U.S. Navy’s submarine-launched fleet ballistic missiles, following the highly successful Polaris, Poseidon, and Trident I C4 programs. Each generation has been continuously deployed at sea as a survivable retaliatory force and has been routinely operationally tested and evaluated to maintain confidence and credibility in the deterrent.
First deployed in 1990, the D5 missile currently is aboard OHIO-class and British VANGUARD-class submarines. The three-stage, solid-propellant, inertial-guided ballistic missile can travel a nominal range of 4,000 nautical miles and carries multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles.
The Trident II D5 missile has achieved 167 successful test launches since design completion in 1989 — a record unmatched by any other large ballistic missile or space launch vehicle.