DTN News: Lockheed Martin Receives Trident II D5 Missile System Production And Support Contract

DTN News: Lockheed Martin Receives Trident II D5 Missile System Production And Support Contract *Source: DTN News / Lockheed Martin (NSI News Source Info) SUNNYVALE, Calif., - December 9, 2009: The U.S. Navy is awarding Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) a contract with a value not to exceed $851 million for production and deployed system support for the Trident II D5 Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) program for fiscal year 2010. Under the contract, Lockheed Martin is providing D5 missile hardware production support and reentry system hardware, as well as operations and maintenance to support the readiness and reliability of missile systems deployed aboard the Navy’s Trident II OHIO-class submarines. The contract also continues the D5 Life Extension effort, which updates selected electronic components to support the extended service life of the Navy's OHIO-class submarines. “Under the leadership of the Navy’s Strategic Systems Program, the Fleet Ballistic Missile program sets the standard for partnership, disciplined performance and continual improvement,” said Melanie A. Sloane, vice president of Fleet Ballistic Missile programs, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. “We are dedicated to supporting the Navy as it continues to raise the bar on this critically important program.” First deployed in 1990, the D5 missile is currently aboard OHIO-class submarines and British VANGUARD-class submarines. Lockheed Martin completed D5 missile deliveries for the U.S. inventory objective in 2007. 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 ~ In October 1980, at the direction of the Secretary of Defense, the Navy embarked on a 3- year advanced development program directed toward achieving significantly enhanced performance characteristics in a new submarinelaunched ballistic missile (SLBM) designed to utilize the full volume available in the TRIDENT SSBN’s launch tube. Primary among the specific performance objectives were improved accuracy and increased payload. In February 1981, the Secretary of Defense reconfirmed the mission and need for qualitative improvements to our SLBM systems and directed the Navy to proceed with Phase I (Demonstration and Validation) of the SLBM Modernization Program. The Secretary of Defense further directed that the Navy prepare for a Defense System Acquisition Review Council (DSARC) II review before the end of fiscal year (FY) 1983 to select an SLBM modernization option having an initial operational capability (IOC) not later than 1989. In October 1981, the Deputy Secretary of Defense directed the Navy to fund the development of the D5 missile to support a late 1989 IOC. IOC was delayed 3 months by initial Performance Evaluation Missile flight failures. The TRIDENT II (D5) missile was deployed in 1990 and will be the U.S.’s strategic seaborne deterrent well into the next century. The TRIDENT II (D5) is a three-stage, solid propellant, inertially guided missile. TRIDENT II (D5) is launched underwater from the OHIO Class of nuclear-propelled TRIDENT submarines, each of which has 24 launch tubes. The TRIDENT II and its predecessor TRIDENT I have ranges of more than 4000 nautical miles (4600 statute miles). TRIDENT II is more sophisticated, with a significantly greater payload capability. Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Sunnyvale, Calif., is the prime contractor and program manager for the U.S. Navy’s Trident missile. Approximately 2,400 Lockheed Martin Space Systems employees, principally in California, Georgia, Florida, Washington, Utah and Virginia, support the design, development, production, test and operation of the Trident Strategic Weapon System. Lockheed Martin Space Systems has been the Navy’s prime strategic missile contractor since the inception of the program more than 50 years ago. Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 140,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2008 sales of $42.7 billion