Lockheed Martin Awarded $20.7 Million Navy Deal for Missile Launcher Support

The Navy awarded Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems a $20.7 million contract modification for engineering and depot work on the MK 41 Vertical Launching System, with work due by December 2026.

First Published: August 5, 2026, 1:34 PM ET

MOORESTOWN, NEW JERSEY — Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, a Lockheed Martin business segment that supports nearly 900 defense programs, received a $20.7 million Navy contract modification to sustain the MK 41 Vertical Launching System, as announced on war.gov.

The cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-only modification funds engineering integration, technical support, material, travel and depot operations for the launcher’s electronic systems and computer programs, the Navy said in a contract announcement. The award modifies contract N00024-20-C-5392 and carries a value of $20.7 million.

Rotary and Mission Systems delivers rotorcraft technology, sensors, radar systems, command and control, combat simulation, cybersecurity and undersea systems across nearly 900 programs in more than 100 nations, according to Google. The MK 41 Vertical Launching System ranks among the unit’s major products, alongside the Aegis Combat System and the AN/SPY-1 naval radar, according to wikipedia.org.

The MK 41 Vertical Launching System is a shipboard missile launcher that fires interceptors and strike weapons from surface combatants. Continued engineering and depot work keeps that system operating on Navy ships, and Lockheed Martin captures the sustainment revenue. The Navy gains ready launchers on deployed vessels.

Moorestown, New Jersey, will handle 60% of the work. The remainder splits among Ventura, California; San Diego, California; Seattle, Washington; Mayport, Florida; Norfolk, Virginia; and Virginia Beach, Virginia. Work is expected to be completed by December 2026. Fiscal 2025 defense-wide funds of $8.5 million and fiscal 2026 defense-wide research, development, test and evaluation funds of $2.4 million will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

The award marks the 24th contract to Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems in 2026, lifting the company’s total for the year to about $3.4 billion. It is also the 25th Department of Defense contract recorded in New Jersey during 2026. The modification is not the largest ever awarded to the unit, whose record stands at about $2.97 billion, and it sits far below the 2026 Navy portfolio’s year-to-date maximum of $8 billion.

For the average reader, the deal shows how defense spending flows into local economies through routine sustainment work rather than headline weapons buys. The largest share lands in Moorestown, a suburb of Philadelphia, where many of the unit’s top executives keep their offices.

Sustainment modifications like this one have happened before and happen often. The MK 41 launcher and the Aegis system have generated recurring Navy support awards for years. That pipeline keeps engineering teams in Moorestown and other sites tied to steady program work.

Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C., serves as the contracting activity and will manage the work. A date for any further contract action has not been announced.

The Moorestown site has anchored this business through repeated corporate reshaping, as happened before. Officials renamed the Mission Systems and Training unit to Rotary and Mission Systems effective September 5, 2016, after Lockheed Martin closed its Sikorsky acquisition in November 2015, according to militaryembedded.com. That change added 18,000 employees to the segment, according to militaryembedded.com. Moorestown remained one of its largest sites, according to wikipedia.org.

This contract represents the 24th contract awarded to Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, in 2026, bringing the company’s total contract value for the year to $3,389,546,208. It is also the 25th Department of Defense contract awarded in New Jersey during 2026. While this is not the largest contract ever awarded to Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, whose record stands at $2,968,000,000, it is notable within the Navy portfolio. Specifically, it falls between the 2026 Navy portfolio’s year-to-date minimum of $9,046,496 and maximum of $8,000,000,000. Overall, this award was announced among 10 Department of Defense contracts issued nationwide on August 5, 2026.