The Navy is moving to retire the shipboard navigator designed for Trident-era ballistic missile submarines in the early 1980s, and Lockheed Martin will build its successor for both the U.S. and British fleets. The Nov. 4 Department of War contract announcement awards Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems in Mitchel Field, New York, a $122,449,494 cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N0003027C3015) for Strategic Weapon System Trident Fleet Support, Trident II SSP Shipboard Integration Increment 8, Navigation Subsystem development efforts. The value includes optional line items, if exercised, and work runs through Oct. 31, 2030.
The announcement adds one line that widens the stakes beyond the U.S. fleet: "This contract award also benefits a foreign military sale to the United Kingdom." The Navy awarded the work sole-source, and only about $29.2 million of the ceiling is obligated at award.
Why Increment 8 Targets the Electrostatic Gyro Navigator
Shipboard Integration Increment 8 is a navigation program first. As Military & Aerospace Electronics put it, "A central objective of Shipboard Integration Increment 8 is replacing the aging Electrostatic Gyro Navigator (ESGN), an inertial-navigation system used in the Trident strategic weapons system."
The ESGN is old by any measure. TheDefenseWatch, citing the Navy's fiscal 2027 budget justification, describes it as "a navigation component originally designed and deployed in the early 1980s," and reports that the Department of the Navy's budget documentation says the current ESGN was designed with a 20-year service life. Military & Aerospace Electronics, drawing on the same budget justification, calls the equipment approximately 30 years old and says the Navy lists it as a modernization priority. Either way, the hardware has run well past its design life.
Inertial navigation matters more on a ballistic missile submarine than almost anywhere else. A submerged boat cannot continuously rely on satellite navigation signals, so it uses internal sensors that track motion and orientation. TheDefenseWatch notes that the navigation subsystem supplies the fire control system with the submarine's position, velocity, heading, tilt and time, which the strategic weapons system needs to set up a launch.
What the $122.4M Navigation Work Covers
The Increment 8 scope extends beyond the gyro itself. According to the two trade reports, the Navy's plan includes:
- Replacing the navigation equipment and updating navigation subsystem software
- Installing replacement Electronic Equipment Consoles
- Changes to fire-control interfaces and navigation training systems
- Software updates for shipboard data and recording systems
The Navy also plans to keep much of what already sits in the navigation center. Military & Aerospace Electronics reports that the budget documentation calls for retaining equipment bedplates, cabling, chilled-water and ventilation systems, and electrical power. That approach lets the Navy swap aging electronics without tearing out the compartment around them.
The work falls under the Navy's broader Shipboard Systems Integration program, which uses a commercial off-the-shelf strategy to bring common electronics into the fire-control subsystem. Military & Aerospace Electronics says the program refreshes inertial-navigation technology to sustain the Trident II D5 Life Extension (D5LE) weapon system aboard Ohio-class submarines and to establish a baseline for the Columbia class.
The award does not signal a new weapon. TheDefenseWatch states that "The contract announcement does not identify a new missile, a change to the Trident II’s range or a new nuclear warhead capability." Increment 8 is an obsolescence and reliability effort aimed at the submarine's shipboard navigation architecture, not at the missile's onboard guidance.
How the UK Sale Ties Into Vanguard and Dreadnought Boats
Britain's Vanguard-class submarines carry Trident II D5 missiles, and the two navies share the weapon system's technical and industrial base. TheDefenseWatch reports that the Navy's fiscal 2027 budget documentation names the Ohio and Vanguard classes, along with the future Columbia and Dreadnought classes, as beneficiaries of the wider shipboard strategic weapons system modernization. The announcement gives no separate dollar figure for the British share of the work.
Where the Money Goes and How It Was Awarded
Lockheed will perform 77% of the work in Mitchel Field, New York; 20% in Huntington Beach, California; 2% in Manassas, Virginia; and the remainder at various other locations at less than 1% each. Portfolio Acquisition Executive Strategic Systems Programs in Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
Three fiscal 2027 Navy appropriations fund the initial obligation: $3,967,324 in Operations and maintenance, $12,257,072 in Other procurement, and $12,966,189 in Shipbuilding and conversion. The operations and maintenance money expires at the end of the current fiscal year.
The Navy awarded the contract sole-source under 10 U.S. Code 3204(a)(1) and (4). The announcement also states that "This action is awarded subject to the availability of funds in accordance with Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation Overhaul 52.232-18."
What It Means for Contractors
The prime slot here was never open. The Navy justified the award sole-source under two separate paragraphs of 10 U.S. Code 3204(a), and the work is tied to a foreign military sale, so the opening for other firms sits a tier down.
Increment 8's commercial off-the-shelf strategy, new Electronic Equipment Consoles, software updates and training-system changes all point to possible subcontract demand in ruggedized computing, inertial sensors, console fabrication and software sustainment. Suppliers already qualified on Ohio-class or Columbia-class programs, and those cleared for strategic systems work, would appear best placed to compete for that business through Lockheed's Mitchel Field and Huntington Beach operations.
Contractors should also watch the funding pattern. With roughly $29.2 million obligated against a $122.4 million value that includes options, future dollars depend on option exercises and later appropriations. Because this award draws on operations and maintenance, other procurement, and shipbuilding funds at once, the schedule is tied to several budget lines. Firms tracking SSP opportunities should read the Navy's fiscal 2027 budget justification for the Shipboard Systems Integration line, which also describes a separate, broader shipboard re-architecture effort that could generate its own work.
