Pentagon's Spending Spree? Lockheed Gets Two Trident Missile Contracts in a Week

Lockheed Martin received another contract in support of Trident II (D5) missile production a day after it was given a more than half-a-billion dollar order to help produce and deploy the system, the US Department of Defense announced.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — On Tuesday, the Defense Department said Lockheed Martin Space Systems had received a $540.8 million addition to a previously awarded contract for Trident II (D5) missile production and support.

"Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company [of] Sunnyvale, California, is being awarded $95.3 million… contract in support of the Trident II (D5) missile production and D5 Deployed Systems," the announcement stated on Wednesday.

The main work on the new contract will be performed in Sunnyvale, California and at Cape Canaveral, Florida with other parts of the project being carried out in locations in six other states, the Defense Department explained.

The Trident II D5 is the latest generation of the US Navy's submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles and has a range of 7,359 km (4,573 miles).

Trident is a nuclear missile system used by the UK and the US navies since the 1990s. In the UK the system has been criticized over its cost. The total estimated cost is 167 billion pounds ($244 billion) over the 32-year lifespan of the system, between 2028 and 2060, according to the International Monetary Fund. Conservative supporters of the Trident renewal point out that over 30,000 jobs are dependent on the Trident fleet.

The missile is currently deployed by the United Kingdom on its Vanguard class submarines. It is also deployed on the US Navy's Ohio and newer Columbia class nuclear missile submarines.