More work on nuclear-tipped missiles contributed to yearly and quarterly earnings gains at Lockheed Martin. The defense contractor, of Bethesda, Md. released an early look earnings press release Tuesday ahead of a scheduled 11 a.m. earnings call.

Lockheed’s 2018 earnings from continuing operations were more than $5 billion, or $17.59 a share, more than two-and-a-half times what the company earned in 2017. In 2017, Lockheed took a $110 million fourth-quarter charge related to a joint venture. Total sales in 2018 rose about 7.5 percent to more than $53.5 billion, Lockheed said in a press release.

In the Space segment, which includes the company’s work on the nuclear-tipped Trident II-D5 ballistic missiles carried aboard the U.S. Navy’s Ohio-class submarines, 2018 sales and earnings rose in part because of Pentagon contracts to modify the missiles, awarded in September.

Sales and earnings also rose in the Missiles and Fire Control segment, which includes technology development work on the next-generation, nuclear-tipped air-launched cruise missile the Pentagon plans to field next decade. However, Lockheed’s initial earnings presser did not mention the next-gen cruise missile, the Long-Range Standoff Weapon.