Lockheed Martin, the top-grossing defense firm in the world, has been awarded a new contract for U.S Navy Trident II D5 submarine-launched ballistic missile life extension program.
The contract, announced Friday by the Department of Defense, is worth more than $473,8 million and covers Life Extension 2 Strategic Systems Programs Alteration Advanced Development Program efforts.
Work is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2026.
The Trident D5 is a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). The Trident II is considered to be a durable sea-based system capable of engaging many targets. It enhances the U.S. position in strategic arms negotiation with performance and payload flexibility that can accommodate active treaty initiatives. The Trident II’s increased payload allows nuclear deterrence to be accomplished with fewer submarines, and its high accuracy – approaching that of land-based missiles – enables it to be used as a first-strike weapon.
First deployed in 1990, the D5 missile is currently aboard U.S. Navy Ohio-class and U.K. Royal Navy Vanguard-class submarines. The three-stage, solid-propellant, inertial-guided missile can travel a nominal range of 4,000 nautical miles and carries independently targeted reentry bodies.
Lockheed Martin has been the Navy’s strategic missile prime contractor since 1955. The company also performs program management and engineering services for the Royal Navy under the Polaris Sales Agreement.
