Trident Research, LLC

Trident Research, LLC, a Hispanic American-owned and minority-owned small disadvantaged business based in Austin, Texas, is a prime contractor (90% of recent awards) supplying precision-engineered mechanical components, test and evaluation technologies, and engineering services to the Department of Defense across multiple military branches. The vendor competes predominantly full-and-open without set-aside designation, though it qualifies for and has received Total Small Business set-asides on selective purchase orders.

Trident Research's primary capability portfolio centers on three revenue streams: routine procurement of mechanical fasteners and components (nuts, washers, bushings, sleeves, spacers, shafts, bearing assemblies, and related hardware); cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-plus-award-fee engineering support for weapons systems modernization and sustainment; and test and evaluation infrastructure development and systems engineering. Representative prime awards include a $30.5 million cost-plus-fixed-fee definitive contract with Naval Strategic Systems Programs (awarded October 2022, ultimate completion June 2029) for in-service engineering and maintenance of the Trident II (D-5) Sea-Launched Ballistic Missile program; a $703,246 cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order with Air Force Test Center (awarded April 2025) for Telemetry Antenna System Installation and Integration (TAS II) at Eglin Air Force Base under the TETRAS II vehicle; and dozens of firm fixed-price purchase orders from DoD Aviation and Land and Maritime divisions for mechanical components valued between $480 and $92,447 each.

Customer concentration is heavily weighted to the Navy and Air Force, with significant imbalance between award count and dollar value. The top five funding agencies account for 78% of award count: Defense Logistics Agency Aviation leads by volume (33 awards, $223 thousand combined potential value) driven by routine component purchases; Naval Strategic Systems Programs (16 awards, $112.7 million combined potential value) anchors the Navy share through the Trident II sustainment contract; Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support Construction and Equipment (9 awards, $5 thousand); Department of Army Test and Evaluation Command (8 awards, $4 million); and Naval Sea Systems Command (6 awards, $853 thousand). However, the dollars-dominated ranking is fundamentally different: Air Force Materiel Command (5 awards, $2.02 billion combined potential value) dominates through its seat on the newly awarded Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) IDIQ vehicle.

Trident Research holds positions on three major government vehicles. The SHIELD indefinite delivery contract, awarded January 21, 2026, by the Missile Defense Agency, carries a $151 billion ceiling through December 2035 and encompasses research, development, prototyping, systems engineering, weapon design, production, test and evaluation, cybersecurity modernization, and advanced defense capabilities across air, missile, space, cyber, and hybrid threat domains—the vendor's largest vehicle anchor and a multi-domain platform for future task orders. The TETRAS II indefinite delivery vehicle, awarded June 30, 2023, by Air Force Materiel Command, carries a $999.95 million ceiling through June 2028 and supports development and modification of test and evaluation systems for fifth and sixth-generation weapons at Eglin Air Force Base; Trident Research has received two delivery orders totaling $704 thousand against this vehicle. A third vehicle, Special Operations Equipment—Tailored Logistics Support, accounts for eight task orders but carries limited visible dollar value in the source data. The Naval Strategic Systems Programs Trident II contract functions as a long-term definitive (not an IDV) and remains the vendor's largest single revenue stream.

Activity has accelerated sharply—one award in 2022, six in 2023, eight in 2024, twenty-nine in 2025, and twelve year-to-date in 2026—driven primarily by purchase order volume from DLA Aviation and the January 2026 SHIELD vehicle award. The January 2026 SHIELD award and the April 2025 TETRAS II delivery order represent the vendor's two largest recent transactions and signal expanded strategic positioning within Air Force and Missile Defense Agency portfolios. Seven awards (combined potential value $849 thousand) face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and present routine recompete exposure, though the Navy's Trident II contract renewal option strategy (FY23 refresh option exercise in October 2022) suggests established incumbent positioning on that major program.

Trident Research subcontracts under four prime relationships: Atlantic Diving Supply, Inc., which engaged the vendor on eight sub-awards between May 2024 and August 2024 for encrypted communications remote command, passive acoustic modules, and secure cybersecurity communication suites in support of Navy programs; Fairwinds Technologies LLC on a November 2025 sub-award for MQ-9B intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance product-based engineering services and associated hardware in support of the Navy; and two additional prime relationships in the source data. The Atlantic Diving Supply engagement represents a Navy undersea and electronic warfare teaming arrangement; Fairwinds signals participation in aerial ISR modernization initiatives.

The vendor's award footprint is bifurcated between high-volume, low-value component procurement (mechanical fasteners and assemblies) and lower-volume, capital-intensive engineering and test infrastructure work. NAICS concentration reflects this split: Bolt, Nut, Screw, Rivet, and Washer Manufacturing (16 awards), Engineering Services (12 awards), Other Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Parts and Auxiliary Equipment Manufacturing (11 awards), Ball and Roller Bearing Manufacturing (8 awards), and Other Electronic and Precision Equipment Repair and Maintenance (8 awards) account for most categorized activity. The vendor has been registered in the System for Award Management since 2002 and brings twenty-plus years of sustained defense industrial base participation.

Systems engineering, military instrumentation, and scientific R&D services in GPS, communications, navigation, remote sensing, autonomous vehicles, realtime systems and unattended sensors. Rapid prototyping of realtime systems.