Navy awards undersea communications work

A Lockheed Martin unit will assist the Navy to design and develop a complex group of communications systems to better serve its submarine fleet under a $35.7 million contract.

Under the contract, Lockheed Martin Sippican Inc. will not only develop the systems but also might provide low-rate initial production and full-rate production quantities of hardware for the program should the Navy exercise various contract options, the Defense Department said Jan. 29.

The Communications at Speed and Depth program was established to improve the ability of a submarine to communicate with other Navy vessels and stations when submerged. If all options are exercised, the contract might be worth as much as $177.9 million, DOD said.

The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command San Diego awarded the contract on behalf of the Navy’s Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence systems. The contractor will perform the work in as many as five locations around the continental United States.

Lockheed Martin Sippican, of Marion, Mass., is a unit of Lockheed Martin Corp., of Bethesda, Md. The parent company ranks No. 1 on Washington Technology’s 2008 Top 100 list of the largest federal government contractors.