Navy awards Lockheed Martin contract for torpedo-guiding sonar systems

The U.S. Navy wants Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) to build guidance and control systems for MK 48 Mod 7 torpedoes under a contract valued at up to $425 million.

It’s part of a five-year effort to increase the inventory of the MK 48 Mod 7 heavyweight torpedoes for the Navy’s submarine fleet, the Bethesda, Maryland–based defense contractor said in a news release issued Wednesday.

Lockheed employees in the town of Salina; Manassas, Virginia; and Palm Beach, Florida will support the company’s employees in Marion, Massachusetts who will handle the work on the guidance and control systems, the firm said.

The company’s Salina plant is part of its mission systems and training business unit.

The Lockheed Martin guidance and control systems will equip the torpedoes with “increased” bandwidth and streamlined targeting and tracking capabilities. These systems will “increase” the MK 48’s effectiveness and provide “advanced” counter-measure capabilities, the company said.

“The latest guidance and control technologies for MK 48 torpedo are thanks in part to Lockheed Martin’s $10 million investment in manufacturing efficiencies, facilities, and laboratories to ensure navies can pace the threats in littoral and deep-sea environments,” Tom Jarbeau, Lockheed Martin MK 48 program director, said in the company news release. “We are building on our five decades of experience in undersea systems and our strong record of providing complex electronic systems to our customers on schedule and on budget.”

Under this new contract, Lockheed Martin will provide “fully integrated” guidance and control sections to increase the inventory of MK 48 torpedoes over several years.

The U.S. Navy could have production orders of more than 250 torpedoes over the next five years, Lockheed Martin says. All classes of submarines use torpedoes as their anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and anti-surface warfare (ASuW) weapon, the defense contractor added.

These new guidance and control systems for new-construction MK 48 torpedoes include the same section of the Navy’s existing heavyweight torpedoes that Lockheed Martin is upgrading under the MK 48 common broadband advanced-sonar system (CBASS) that the U.S. Navy awarded in 2011.

Lockheed Martin delivers to the U.S. Navy at least 20 Mod 7 CBASS kits per month and is “on track to deliver all kits on schedule,” the company said.

The defense contractor also performs intermediate maintenance of these torpedoes for fleet training.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com