The contract calls on Space Systems to provide the British Royal Navy with general support for its Trident II program management and planning. Additionally, Space Systems will provide the Royal Navy with technical support for its reentry systems, missile systems, integration and production operations, and flight-testing. Space Systems will also supply spare hardware for delivered support equipment and reentry /missile body assembly components.

Work on the contract will begin April 1, 2000 and will be completed by March 31, 2001. Contract work will be performed at Space Systems facilities located in Sunnyvale, CA, Kings Bay, GA, Cape Canaveral, FL and Coulport, Scotland.

"Since 1968, Lockheed Martin Space Systems has provided support to the UK Royal Navy under the terms of the US-UK Polaris Sales Agreement," said Doug Banks, Missiles & Space manager, UK Programs. "We are very pleased to be continuing our partnership with the Royal Navy for another year, and look forward to providing many more years of support to the UK."

The United Kingdom and the United States governments signed the Polaris Sales Agreement (PSA) in April 1963. It began nearly three decades of reliance by the UK on the Lockheed Martin built Polaris A3 submarine launched ballistic missile system for its strategic deterrence mission. In 1982, the PSA was modified at the request of the British government to provide for the sale of the Trident II D5 ballistic missile system, associated equipment and related system support. The U.K. began replacing the Polaris A3 system in the mid-1990's with the Trident II D5 missile system.

The UK strategic deterrent consists of four British-built Vanguard-class Trident ballistic missile submarines. Each submarine carries 16 Trident II D5 missiles. The first submarine, the HMS Vanguard, deployed on her maiden operational patrol in December 1994. The fourth and final UK strategic submarine, HMS Vengeance, was commissioned in November 1999. The UK Trident force operates from the submarine base at Faslane on the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, with an associate Armament Depot at nearby Coulport. In recent years, the British government has purchased 58 Trident II D5 missiles from Space Systems for its strategic submarine force.

Space Systems' SMP has more than 40-years of experience in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration, test and support of strategic missile systems for the U.S. Navy and UK Royal Navy.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems-Missiles & Space Operations, Sunnyvale, CA, is an operating division within Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Denver, CO.

Lockheed Martin

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