EDC Efforts Key in Relocation of Lockheed Martin FBM Headquarters to Florida’s Space Coast
Milestone demonstrates impact from long term economic development investment.
Space Coast, FL (July 30, 2019) – Today, the Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast (EDC) recognized a significant milestone in Brevard County’s history as Lockheed Martin’s Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) Headquarters officially marked its relocation to Titusville, Florida. This milestone comes nearly fifteen years after EDC efforts played an essential role in retaining the Naval Ordnance Test Unit (NOTU) in Cape Canaveral. The FBM program supports NOTU and its submarine-launched Trident missiles. In 2005, a federal base-closure commission reversed a Department of Defense recommendation to relocate NOTU to Kings Bay, Georgia retaining nearly 1,000 jobs locally. The presence of NOTU was one of the key factors in the decision to relocate the FBM Headquarters, announced by Lockheed Martin in February 2017.
This move has already led to a commitment to invest nearly $40 million into the Titusville campus and the transition of 350 jobs from Sunnyvale, California. Lockheed Martin has developed, built and sustained six generations of submarine-launched ballistic missiles under the FBM program. The current generation of missiles, designated Trident II D5, are carried aboard the US Navy’s Ohio-class submarines and make up the sea-based leg of the nation’s nuclear triad. They are also carried aboard the United Kingdom’s Vanguard-class submarine as their nation’s sole nuclear deterrent.