Lockheed Martin Wins $29.4 Million Navy Order for Saudi Warship

The Navy awarded Lockheed Martin Corp. Rotary & Mission Systems a $29.4 million order to support the lead Multi-Mission Surface Combatant built for Saudi Arabia, with work running through February 2031.

First Published: July 30, 2026, 1:31 PM ET

MOORESTOWN, NEW JERSEY — Lockheed Martin Corp. Rotary & Mission Sys tems, the defense contractor based in Moorestown, New Jersey, won a $29.4 million Navy order to support the first Saudi warship in a new surface combatant class, as announced on war.gov.

The cost-plus-fixed-fee order modifies a previously awarded contract and covers engineering and management support for the lead ship Multi-Mission Surface Combatant, known as MMSC-1, according to war.gov. The work includes a post shakedown availability, an industrial post-delivery availability and a continuous maintenance availability. Foreign Military Sales funding of $26.9 million for Saudi Arabia was obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

The order runs through February 2031. Work will be performed in Mayport, Florida, at 67 percent, and Moorestown, New Jersey, at 33 percent, according to war.gov. The Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair in Bath, Maine, is the contracting activity.

The Multi-Mission Surface Combatant is a variant of the Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship, adapted for export to Saudi Arabia under the foreign military sales program. The award ties an American shipbuilder and its workers to a warship destined for a foreign navy, a structure that keeps engineering payrolls in Florida and New Jersey while Riyadh funds the bill. Saudi Arabia carries the cost, and Lockheed Martin retains the sustainment work that follows delivery of a lead ship.

Washington and Riyadh have built one of the largest arms relationships in the world. The United States approved a $500 million foreign military sales package for Saudi Arabia in 2020 to support the Royal Saudi Naval Forces, according to state.gov. The MMSC program grew out of a broader naval modernization effort tied to that partnership, and the lead ship marks the point where design work turns into fielded hardware.

For the average American reader, the transaction carries little direct cost, because Saudi funds cover the order. The work sustains skilled engineering and shipyard jobs at Mayport and Moorestown, two communities where naval contracts anchor local employment. Foreign military sales of this kind also shape the balance sheet of Lockheed Martin, the largest defense contractor in the world by sales.

This has happened before. The Navy routinely issues post-delivery and maintenance orders as lead ships of a new class enter service, and foreign military sales frequently route such work through the original builder. Lead-ship support orders are a standard step in the life cycle of a warship program, closing the gap between construction and operational readiness.

The next decision on the program rests with the Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair in Bath, Maine, which manages the contract and any follow-on availabilities. A date for the next award has not been announced.

Warships built in America for foreign fleets carry a long history. The United States delivered destroyers and cruisers to allied navies throughout the Cold War, and the Freedom-class hull that underpins the MMSC first entered U.S. Navy service in 2008 with the commissioning of USS Freedom, according to navy.mil. Export variants extended the design’s reach abroad. The pattern has repeatedly kept domestic shipyards busy long after a class stopped growing at home.