70 Years Under the Surface: The Submerged Shield Keeping America Safe 

Deep within the world’s oceans, U.S. Navy ballistic missile submarines patrol in strategic silence – a hidden deterrent that has helped prevent major conflict for nearly three-quarters of a century.

Since the first Polaris launch from the USS George Washington in 1960, the Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) program has supported the U.S. Navy’s sea-based nuclear deterrence capability and most survivable leg of the nuclear triad.

“Lockheed Martin has proudly supported the Fleet Ballistic Missile program for 70 years,” said Eric Scherff, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s Fleet Ballistic Missile Program. “As we celebrate this milestone with our Navy partners, we build on decades of experience and dedication, and we will continue building that legacy of innovation to preserve strong deterrence and deliver peace through strength.”

The Launch

In 1955, amid the emerging threats of the Cold War, Adm. Arleigh Burke, Chief of Naval Operations, charged Rear Adm. William “Red” Raborn with developing a nuclear deterrent that could survive a surprise attack. The solution had to be reliable, undetectable, and fast.

“The Navy needed a capability that would protect our homeland, aid our allies, deter adversaries, and give leaders valuable time to avoid conflict,” Scherff said.

Meeting that demand required breakthroughs in propulsion, guidance, and launch technology. While many thought it an impossible feat, Lockheed, then known as Lockheed Aircraft Company, took on the challenge, winning the contract in December that year. Within five years, the first Polaris missile left the submerged deck of the USS George Washington, proving a submarine could launch a strategic weapon from beneath the waves.

Buoyed by the breakthrough, Lockheed quickly secured a permanent development hub in Sunnyvale, California, establishing its first missile development campus. Over the next six decades the FBM program designed and delivered six generations of submarine-launched ballistic missiles and expanded its footprint from Sunnyvale to additional dedicated facilities nationwide. Today, the program continues to innovate, expanding a modern network of testing and development facilities that will support the next generation of deterrent systems.

Engineering a Legacy 

Each new missile family developed has pushed the boundaries of what is possible:

• Polaris A1 – introduced the submerged launch capability
• Polaris A3 – added multiple reentry vehicles, allowing one missile to strike several targets
• Poseidon C3 – improved accuracy and increased warhead count
• Trident I C4 – extended range to provide global reach capability
• Trident II D5 – delivered unmatched precision and power
• Trident II D5 Life Extension (D5LE) – upgraded avionics to keep the missile fielded into the 2040s

“Every new generation of deterrence systems we deliver is a proactive step to stay ahead,” Scherff said. “We’ve never stopped adapting and we never will.”

The ability to evolve while keeping the system credible and reliable comes from the brilliant minds behind-the-scenes at Lockheed Martin and a broad network of industry partners, from component manufacturers and advanced materials specialists to software innovators.

“Their expertise ensures each missile meets the highest performance standards,” Scherff said. “Our partnerships amplify our engineering capabilities and keep the FBM system at the forefront of reliability and innovation.”

An Insurance Policy for a More Dangerous World

The strategic landscape in 2025 looks very different from that of the 1960s. Adversaries are modernizing their nuclear forces, developing hypersonic weapons, expanding undersea fleets, and investing in cyber capabilities that target command and control networks.

The FBM program contributes to the U.S. Navy’s strategic deterrence capabilities, serving as a quiet counterbalance to these emerging threats. Its strength lies in its stealth; submarines carrying the missiles operate worldwide, always ready and almost impossible to detect.

“Because this system can’t be seen, it forces our adversaries to plan for a threat they can’t detect,” Scherff said. “That’s the ultimate insurance policy. It works not by using force, but by making the cost of aggression too great. When adversaries wake up and ask, ‘Is today the day to attack the United States?’ we want the answer to be, ‘Not today,’ every day.”

From Hand-Drawn Designs to Digital Engineering

Charlie Barndt has seen the FBM program evolve from the early Polaris days to today’s work on the D5LE2 of the future. He began his FBM career in 1967 as a lead engineering training instructor, then progressed through concept design and subsystem work and eventually took charge of overall system architecture. As his responsibilities grew, safety and surety became his primary focus.

“Every line on a drawing has to survive the toughest safety analysis, and that mindset has shaped the whole program,” Barndt explained. It was this uncompromising safety discipline that later defined one of the most rewarding chapters of his career—working with the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense on a D5 Performance Evaluation Missile (PEM) fix, an upgrade that improved propulsion engine management performance and reinforced mission safety. Barndt said the

collaboration showed how shared technical rigor can cross borders or – in this case – oceans.

The same spirit of innovation drove the program’s technological transformation. In the formative years, Barndt and the FBM team relied on hand-drawn sketches and manually built hardware, pushing technological innovations forward in a very tactile way. As years passed, those same designs migrated to a digital environment, eventually transforming into tools like digital twin development, model-based systems engineering, and AI-driven verification.

“The tools have changed, but the discipline of designing for longevity and survivability stays the same,” he said.

The shift to modern, model-centric tools gave the program the precision and confidence it needed for its most demanding upgrades, yet amid modern advances the enduring partnership between Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy has never wavered.

When asked why this critical partnership has endured for 70 years, Barndt points to three pillars: a warfighter first mindset that guides all technical decisions, unwavering trust built through transparent data, and a shared dedication to delivering the best solution.

Back to the Beginning

Today, Lockheed Martin is leading the development of the Trident II D5 Life Extension 2 (D5LE2) missile and the next-generation Mk7 reentry system for the U.S. Navy, upgrades that will sustain the mission into the 2080s.

“In many ways it feels like 1955 again,” Scherff said. “We are racing against the clock, innovating fast and building something that will serve the next generation the way Polaris, Poseidon, and Trident served ours.”

Sixty‑five years after its inaugural launch from a submerged submarine, the system remains one of the most effective deterrents ever built. Designed to be seen, not fired, each flight test of the system stands as both proof and promise- FBM is always ready.

“This is a legacy of peace through strength,” Scherff said. “We are honored to carry it forward for the next six decades and beyond.”