BALTIMORE, June 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Navy awarded Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) a $80.2 million contract to provide MK 41 Vertical Launching Systems (VLS) for DDG 51 Class Aegis destroyers.

The MK 41 VLS is a missile launch system installed below deck onboard surface ships that provides capability to fire a variety of missiles including anti-air, anti-submarine, surface-to-surface, and strike.

"MK 41 VLS will continue to be one of the Navy's premier weapon systems well into the 21st century as the system continually evolves to meet the challenges of increasingly complex emergent threats," said Toan Nguyen, the MK 41 VLS Program Manager in the U.S. Navy's Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems.  "We have effectively demonstrated the capability to integrate numerous missile types into the MK 41 VLS platform to meet the Navy's mission requirements."

Under this firm-fixed-price contract, Lockheed Martin also will provide launcher spares, upgrade kits and installation equipment.

"The MK 41 VLS is combat proven with more than 3,500 successful missile firings," said Colleen Arthur, director of Lockheed Martin's Integrated Defense Technologies business. "We have supported this system for over 30 years and have leveraged its modular configuration and open architecture to continually upgrade it."

MK 41 VLS has revolutionized U.S. and Allied navy's sea-launched weapons by providing capability to respond to numerous (existing and emergent) warfare threats from the same weapons platform.  The MK 41 VLS is in use by 12 navies worldwide with 186 ships in 19 different ship classes. More than 12,000 MK 41 VLS missile cells have been delivered, and additional launchers are on order.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs approximately 126,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation's 2010 sales from continuing operations were $45.8 billion.

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SOURCE Lockheed Martin