Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
4/3/2015
Navy Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) awarded Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training a not-to-exceed $59 million undefinitized sole-source contract action for Trident 2 D5 Navigation Subsystem Strategic Systems Program Shipboard Integration (SSI) Increment 4, Increment 8 Inertial and Non-Inertial efforts, according to a March 31 Defense Department announcement. The Navy awarded the contract to keep Increments 4 and 8 on schedule, and the actual value will be announced when SSP and Lockheed finalize the contract agreement, spokesperson John Daniels said in an email to NS&D Monitor. “In a generic sense, Undefinitized Contract Actions (UCAs) are done when there is a critical or emergent need for work from a given contractor,” Daniels wrote. “This allows the contractor to begin work and to be funded prior to formal and final contract negations (or definitized). In this particular case, as stated in the announcement, it is for continuing work on Incs 4 and 8.”
Daniels declined to discuss the type of contract being considered, because the agreement has not been negotiated. Work is expected to complete by Dec. 31, 2016. If the maximum amount is awarded, the U.S. will shoulder 80 percent of the cost, paying $47.1 million from its Fiscal Year 2015 “other procurement (Navy)” account. The U.K. would bear 20 percent of the cost, shelling out $11.9 million from its accounts.
DoD Has Announced Four Previous Trident Contracts This Year
The award is the fourth D5-related contract announced in FY 2015, after SSP awarded Charles Stark Draper Laboratory a maximum amount $302.4 million sole-source, firm-fixed-price, fixed-price-incentive and cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for ongoing work of the Trident 2 D5 MK 6 Guidance System Repair Program with failure verification, test, repair and recertification of inertial measurement units, electronic assemblies and electronic modules, according to a Feb. 9 DoD announcement. The U.S. will assume 86 percent of the contract amount, and is expected to pay $260.9 million in FY 2015 weapons procurement contract funds. The U.K. will carry the other 14 percent of the cost, paying $41.6 million from their FY 2015 accounts.
SSP also announced on Dec. 23 a sole-source $39.5 million—maximum value $80.2 million—cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-plus-incentive-fee sole-source contract awarded to Boeing to provide the U.S. and U.K. D5 maintenance, repair, rebuilding and technical services for the missile’s navigation subsystem. Boeing will receive 94 percent of that base contract amount—$37 million—from U.S. contract funds and 6 percent—$2.5 million—from the U.K. The first Trident-related award of the fiscal year was a $35.9 million cost-plus-fixed-fee sole-source contract awarded to Lockheed Martin Space Systems, which included work on integrating a common missile compartment for the Ohio Replacement Program (ORP), program management of an integrated test facility, and manufacture, test and delivery of missile service units. Two option years can boost the contract value to $99.2 million. The U.S. Navy budget is footing that entire base contract amount.
Increment 4 Refresh of Navigation System
Increment 4 of the Trident Life Extension Program entails replacing obsolete components, including updates for the Navigation Sonar and Frequency Standard functions as well as replacement of workstations, processors, and inter and intra-subsystem interfaces. The phase also involves GPS modernization, including meeting antenna requirements, data transfer and timing propagation requirements and mechanizations necessary to support the Navigation Subsystem. Michael Maglich, SSP Technical Director/Deputy Direct Reporting Program Manager, during the TRIAD forum in Ogden, Utah, two weeks ago, said Increment 4 is now in a refresh of navigation system electronics, and SSP is trying to decide which specific Ohio-class submarine it wants to integrate with. “It’ll be next year when we take that to a submarine and actually proof it onboard,” he said. The Increment 4 Subsystem architecture provides the “migration path and support needed to achieve the full Increment 8 solution,” according to the draft RFP.
Procurement of ESGNs to Last from 2020 to 2022
Increment 8 replaces the electrostatic gyro-navigator (ESGN) with an upgraded inertial navigator, the Interferometric Fiber-Optic Gyro (IFOG), using the Increment 4 architecture as a baseline. It is the next refresh of the navigation system. “That’ll hold all the inertial systems for navigation, and we’re targeting deployment of that in FY ‘20,” Maglich said. “These are all extremely important because they set the foundation for what the shipboard system’s going to be that we actually deploy off our ORP.” The critical path to synchronizing D5 missiles with ORP is construction of the next-gen ESGNs, SSP Director Vice Adm. Terry Benedict said at ExchangeMonitor’s Seventh Annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit in February. Procurement of the components is expected to run from FY 2020 to FY 2022, he said.
Pentagon Wants to Maintain Similar Funding for FY 2016
The Pentagon has asked for $1.2 billion for the Trident D5 missile for FY 2016, after the Department received $1.3 billion to fund the missile program in FY 2015. In addition to the guidance system, the FY 2016 request is intended to improve the Arming, Fuzing and Firing systems and studies to support the National Nuclear Security Administration’s W88 ALT 370 program, according to budget documents. The $1.2 billion would also fund procurement of flight test instrumentation, 12 solid rocket motors, 35 LEP kits, support equipment and spares.
Lockheed Receives U.K. Trident Contract
In addition to the March 31 contract announcement, SSP awarded Lockheed a $31.1 million sole-source cost-plus-fixed-fee, level-of-effort, completion contract to provide the U.K. with engineering and technical support services and deliverable materials for the U.K. Trident 2 Missile System, according to an April 2 DoD announcement. Items are expected to be delivered on March 31, 2019. The contract includes technical planning, direction, coordination and control to ensure U.K. fleet ballistic missile requirements are met and integrated to support planned milestone schedules, re-entry systems U.K. resident technical support, operational support hardware and a Collaborative Reentry Material Experiment deliverable. The U.K. will pay the entire contract.
