Lockheed Martin receives Trident missile contract

The contract could increase to $94.1 million. Most of the work will be performed in Sunnyvale, Calif. And Cape Canaveral, Fl. Smaller contracts will be completed at multiple locations across the country. It is expected to be completed by February of 2022.

Britain will contribute $1.9 million to the program to continue their collaboration on the Trident missile. The Trident has been an issue of some controversy there because of its cost and questions as to whether Britain should keep it's undersea nuclear deterrent.

The D5 Trident II is the primary submarine-launched nuclear ballistic missile for both the United States and Britain. It is a Multiple Independent Launch Vehicles, or MIRV, capable system that can shower a wide area with up to twelve nuclear warheads from a single missile.

It is the primary missile for both the U.S. Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine and the British Vanguard-class. With future upgrades, the Trident II is expected to be the standard SLBM until at least 2040.

Ballistic missile submarines are a key part of the United States' nuclear triad. Capable of operating underwater for months, they are extremely difficult to detect and are meant to deliver a counterstrike if land and air-based nuclear forces are destroyed.