Navy orders missile components

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AKRON, Ohio, July 9 (UPI) -- Components for 22 of the U.S. Navy's Vertical Launch anti-submarine missiles have been ordered from Lockheed Martin.

The firm-fixed-price contract carries a value of $27 million.

No delivery date was given but Lockheed said work on the contract will be performed at its facility in Akron, Ohio.

The VLA missile is a supersonic anti-submarine warfare weapon used on destroyers and cruisers and destroyers. It carries a lightweight torpedo and can be fired without maneuvering the ship,

Lockheed says the missile has twice the range of earlier anti-submarine rocket systems and that navies around the world are expressing interest in the VLA as a replacement for older, unguided, above-deck launched anti-submarine weapons,

"Our system successfully defeats submarine threats, which continue to increase worldwide," said Colleen Arthur, program director of Integrated Defense Technologies at Lockheed Martin's Mission Systems & Sensors business. "We have produced more than 1,000 missiles over 20 years, deployed around the world protecting our sailors every day,

"Working with our U.S. Navy customer and using our collective expertise, we continue advancing the reliability, range and effectiveness of the VLA missile."