Lockheed Secures U.S., U.K. Navies’ Trident Missiles Contract Valued $191M

Lockheed Martin won a contract valued $191.2 million to provide Trident missiles to the U.S. Navy and the United Kingdom for their fleet of warships.

“The Lockheed Martin Corp., Rotary and Mission Systems, Mitchel Field, New York, is awarded a $191.2 million contract for the U.S. and United Kingdom to provide strategic weapon system Trident SSI Increment 8 production of inertial navigation systems and associated inertial spares for the Ohio and Columbia ballistic missile submarine shallow water submersible platforms for the fleet ballistic missile program,” a U.S. DoD release today said.

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. First deployed in 1990, the Trident II D5 missile is currently aboard OHIO-class and British VANGUARD-class submarines.

The Trident is equipped with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles. Originally developed by Lockheed Missiles and Space Corporation, the missile is armed with thermonuclear warheads and is launched from nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines.