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Lockheed Martin Team Completes Requirements Milestone for GPS IIIB Program

Jeffrey Bradford — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 02:06:00 +0000

Lockheed Martin Team Completes Requirements Milestone for GPS IIIB Program
June 21, 2010

NEWTOWN, Pa., -Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) announced today that it has successfully completed a key requirements review for the Global Positioning System (GPS) IIIB satellite series under the U.S. Air Force's next generation GPS III Space Segment program.

GPS III will improve position, navigation and timing services and provide advanced anti-jam capabilities yielding superior system security, accuracy and reliability for users around the globe.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Newtown, Pa., is working under a $3 billion Development and Production contract to produce up to 12 GPS IIIA satellites, with first launch projected for 2014. The contract, which features a "back to basics" acquisition approach to low-risk constellation sustainment and technology insertion, includes a Capability Insertion Program (CIP) designed to mature technologies and perform rigorous systems engineering for the future IIIB and IIIC increments planned for follow-on procurements.

The Lockheed Martin-led team, which includes ITT, Clifton, N.J., and General Dynamics of Gilbert, Ariz., recently completed a two-day GPS IIIB System Requirements Review (SRR) with the U.S. Air Force at Lockheed Martin's facilities in Valley Forge, Pa. Over 170 attendees participated in the SRR, including representatives from the U.S. Air Force's GPS Wing, Air Force Space Command, the Defense Contract Management Agency, the OCX Ground Segment team, the Federal Aviation Administration and user communities.

"The GPS IIIB SRR was a success," said Lt. Col. Don Frew, GPS III Squadron Commander. "Lockheed Martin demonstrated to the government that the team is working to a solid requirements baseline and developing a mature design beyond what we normally see at a SRR. I want to thank the GPS III team for all their hard work and dedication."

The successful review demonstrated to the customer and user community the Lockheed Martin team's understanding of the inherent product development and technology maturity risks, how they will be met, and the program's readiness to continue to the GPS IIIB System Design Review.

"This important review effectively demonstrated our technology advancement and orderly, low-risk transition plan for meeting our customer's performance objectives," said John Frye, Lockheed Martin's manager of the GPS III Capability Insertion Program. "We are laser focused on executing to the baseline requirements in place for GPS IIIB while implementing the systems engineering processes necessary to accommodate change as GPS IIIB and GPS IIIC evolve."

The GPS IIIA satellites will deliver significant improvements over current GPS space vehicles, including a new international civil signal (L1C) and increased M-Code anti-jam power with full earth coverage for military users.

GPS IIIB will enable a cross-linked command and control architecture, allowing these GPS III vehicles to be updated from a single ground station instead of waiting for each satellite to orbit in view of a ground antenna. GPS IIIC will include a high-powered spot beam to deliver greater M-Code power for increased resistance to hostile jamming.

The team, which is progressing in the GPS IIIA Critical Design Review (CDR) phase of the program, has completed more than 80 percent of the planned CDRs and is well on its path to the overall space vehicle CDR in August, two months ahead of the planned schedule. Successful completion of the space vehicle CDR will allow the team to enter the production phase of the program.

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Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT), Space Systems

Lockheed Martin Delivers the 1,000th Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile to the U.S. Air Force

Jeffrey Bradford — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:33:00 +0000

Lockheed Martin Delivers the 1,000th Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile to the U.S. Air Force
April 12, 2010 12:01 PM

ORLANDO, Fla., --Lockheed Martin's (NYSE: LMT) Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) program team has delivered its 1,000th missile to the U.S. Air Force. The missile was completed as part of the seventh production lot at the Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control facility in Troy, AL.

Missile number 1,000 was completed seven years after the first missile was delivered, almost to the month. This achievement was acknowledged in a rollout ceremony at the Troy facility, with participants including U.S. Air Force Program Office officials, U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command representatives, Australian Department of Defence officials, Defense Contract Management Agency officials and Lockheed Martin team members.

"This milestone shows the resolve of Lockheed Martin employees to deliver top quality products to our customers," said Alan Jackson, JASSM program director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "Working with our customers, we've overcome challenges, accommodated new requirements and are delivering a precision weapon that provides unparalleled capabilities to U.S. and allied Warfighters."

JASSM is a critical weapon for the U.S. Air Force, with the eighth production lot under contract toward a total objective of 4,900 JASSMs and JASSM-ERs (Extended Range). The baseline JASSM is also produced for foreign military sale customers. JASSM's can be integrated on multiple aircraft and have been successfully demonstrated on the B-1, B-2, B-52 and F-16 aircraft. Future platforms include the F-15E, F/A-18 and F-35.

The missile is produced at Lockheed Martin's award-winning manufacturing facility in Troy, AL. Lockheed Martin has assembled JASSM missiles in Troy, for testing and operational use, since late 1999. A 2,000-pound class weapon with a penetrator/blast fragmentation warhead, JASSM cruises autonomously in adverse weather, day or night, using a state-of-the-art infrared seeker in addition to the anti-jam GPS to find a specific target aimpoint. Its stealthy airframe makes it extremely difficult to defeat.

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Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT), Missiles

F-35 Program Has Issues DCMA Says

Matthew Potter — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:00:15 +0000

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) has become the aviation program in the Obama defense budget. This multi-variant, multi-service aircraft will be the only new tactical aircraft built in the United States for several years now that the F-22 Raptor was canceled in the 2010 budget. In fact Secretary of Defense Robert Gates wanted to speed up production and testing of the aircraft in order to replace the aging F-15 and F-16 fleet more quickly.

Earlier this summer there were reports that a review panel had found the potential for delays and cost growth in the program that would seriously affect the plans for the aircraft. Yesterday there were reports that the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) has been reporting that the program is facing production and test delays as well as having cost issues. DCMA monitors contractors for performance and delivery and reportedly Lockheed Martin and its supporting contractors are already behind on the latest schedule established in May, 2008.

When the budget was announced with the decision to cancel the F-22 and focus on the F-35 some doubts were raised that the plan would work out. The schedule was not firm enough and cost was still being worked out for the three different aircraft being developed for the U.S. and its Allies. The F-35 if unit costs do rise significantly could see lower annual buy quantities which stretches out production and extends the time the older aircraft must be flying. While it is certainly possible that the schedule problems may be overcome delays and cost increases will undermine the reasoning behind the whole proposed Obama aviation modernization budget. This report may give Congress pause and interest in re-starting the F-22 production.