SNP ministers have been urged to scrap contracts which see millions of pounds in taxpayers' cash handed to the firm that manufactures the nuclear arsenal they want to remove from Scotland.
Lockheed Martin, one of the world's largest manufacturers of military hardware which also offers IT services, last year took over a Scottish Government e-procurement contract worth £18.5m.
The US-based firm, which also makes the Paveway II laser-guided smart bombs which were dropped in Gaza over the summer and publicly supports the Israeli Defense Forces, boasts on its website that it works "in partnership" with the Scottish Government on multiple contracts.
It claims to help ministers "deliver innovative solutions that create efficiencies" and "increase sustainable economic growth", having also won IT contracts with Transport Scotland and the Scottish Court Service.
The close relationship has sparked clams of hypocrisy, given the SNP's long-standing opposition to Trident. As well as manufacturing Trident missiles, Lockheed Martin also provides a wide-range of engineering, training and maintenance services to the UK's fleet of nuclear submarines, which are based in the Clyde.
The Scottish Government also opposed the military bombardment of Gaza in the summer, going as far as to call for a UK arms embargo against Israel, which purchases a large amount of its military hardware from Lockheed Martin. In October, it emerged that Israel had made a fresh order of 25 F-35 stealth fighter jets from the firm.
Alison Johnstone, a Green MSP, described the Trident missiles manufactured by Lockheed Martin as "abhorrent" and said she would have expected the Scottish Government to "exercise some ethical common sense" when deciding who to give contracts to.
She added: "An IT division might be different from a missile support division but it still means public money is benefitting a big firm that supports weapons of mass destruction. I think most people would question this arrangement and I'd hope the Scottish Government and its agencies found ways to get out of these contracts."
Lockheed Martin was a sponsor of the Scottish Public Service Awards, which were held at Holyrood earlier this month and were run in partnership with both The Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon handed a Lifetime Achievement award, sponsored by Lockheed Martin, to former chief medical officer Sir Harry Burns at the event.
A Lockheed Martin UK spokesperson said: "It's not surprising that as a key supplier of information technology to the Scottish public sector with operations in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, Lockheed Martin UK was one of several commercial companies asked to support this event.
"Although we are sponsoring the lifetime achievement award, we are not involved in picking the winner, who has been chosen by the independent judging panel."
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "Lockheed Martin acquired Amor Group in 2013 and in doing so inherited the Scottish Government's e-Procurement contract. The Scottish Government is not a financial sponsor of the Scottish Public Service Awards."
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