SCIENCE/ TECHNOLOGY

‘Trident Team’ award: The U.S. Navy has selected Semicoa Semiconductors, a Costa Mesa military and aerospace manufacturer, as a recipient of its “Trident Team” award for its work on the Trident submarine program.

Under a subcontract with Calabasas-based Lockheed Corp., Semicoa makes a number of electronic components for the Trident submarine’s D5 nuclear missile, said Don Felder, vice president of sales and marketing.

Semicoa is a sole supplier to the Navy of a pin diode, a component that detects radiation from a nuclear blast and shuts down the missile’s guidance computer. The diode thus shields the computer from destructive electromagnetic pulses released in a nuclear blast.

As a result, the missile’s electronics gear is better able to survive an enemy nuclear attack, Felder said. For the past five years, the company has had sales of about $1.5 million a year in the program.

The company was one of 30 suppliers given the award from a list of 500 manufacturers involved in the Trident missile program.