United Kingdom’s defense ministry said on a Tuesday morning statement that the British government will take back control of the development and operations of the country’s nuclear weapons from a consortium of Lockheed Martin, Serco and Jacobs Engineering in June 2021.
United Kingdom’s defense ministry said on a Tuesday morning statement that the British government will take back control of the development and operations of the country’s nuclear weapons from a consortium of Lockheed Martin, Serco and Jacobs Engineering in June 2021.
The defense ministry also pointed out in its statement that the government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that ending the commercial arrangement early would improve its agility in managing the country’s nuclear deterrent and deliver value for money to the taxpayer.
Lockheed Martin said in a separate statement that the Atomic Weapons Establishment was expected to contribute about $22 billion to both its underlying trading profit and pretax profit in 2020. However, the company also said that assuming a smooth handover of the contracts next year, it expects profit in 2021 to remain in line with HSBC forecast.
According to a Sky News report, people familiar with the matter said that while there’s no turning back in this decision, it wasn’t clear if the company would receive compensation for the 25-year contract termination.