The U.S. Navy has awarded Systems Planning and Analysis Inc. (SPA) a task order valued at $67.5 million to support the Trident II Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile Strategic Weapons System, reinforcing the combined U.S.–UK sea-based nuclear deterrent that forms a key pillar of NATO’s strategic defense framework.
As disclosed by the U.S. Department of War, the Alexandria, Virginia-headquartered firm received a $67,519,083 cost-plus-fixed-fee term contract to provide technical and analytical support to the Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs office. The award includes Foreign Military Sales components that directly sustain the United Kingdom’s continuous at-sea deterrence capability.
Under the contract, SPA will deliver a range of advanced technical services spanning systems engineering analysis, risk and performance assessment, strategic industrial base evaluation, and enterprise-level data management. These efforts are vital to ensuring the long-term effectiveness, survivability, and readiness of the Trident II D5 missile, which underpins the U.S. Navy’s ballistic missile submarine force aboard the Ohio-class and the forthcoming Columbia-class platforms. With an operational range exceeding 7,000 km and the capacity to carry multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles, the Trident II D5 remains one of the most capable SLBMs currently in service worldwide.
Manufactured by Lockheed Martin Space in Sunnyvale, California, the Trident II D5 has been in continuous service since its initial deployment in March 1990. Developed as the successor to the Trident C-4, the missile introduced significant improvements in range, payload, and guidance accuracy. It is a core element of the U.S. strategic nuclear triad and provides a highly survivable and flexible second-strike capability. As of 2026, the system is deployed on 14 U.S. Navy Ohio-class submarines, each fitted with 20 launch tubes in accordance with New START treaty limits, and on four Royal Navy Vanguard-class submarines carrying 16 missiles each.
Beyond the missile itself, the Trident II Strategic Weapons System comprises the full architecture of launch, navigation, fire control, maintenance, and command-and-control subsystems required for operational employment. This integrated system enables submerged submarines to execute rapid, precise launches and deliver nuclear payloads against multiple geographically separated targets.
SPA’s support is critical to maintaining the missile’s technical edge, contributing to ongoing systems integration and detailed performance validation of flight dynamics, guidance accuracy, and launch platform interfaces. The Trident II’s astro-inertial guidance system, which incorporates stellar reference updates, demands continuous technical oversight and algorithm refinement to sustain its high level of targeting precision across diverse operational scenarios.
