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Guidance System Production Ramps Up At Lockheed Martin To Replenish Tomahawk Cruise Missile Inventory

AKRON, OH, April 4th, 2000 -- Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems, Akron, has been awarded a contract valued at $62 million from Raytheon Company's Missile Systems business unit, Tucson, Ariz., to supply 644 new and remanufactured Digital Scene Matching Area Correlators and other components for Tomahawk cruise missiles as part of the U.S. military's requirement to renew its supply of weapons. The Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) business unit has built and delivered Tomahawk guidance subsystems for the past decade, delivering more than 2,500 correlators and other key guidance components to Raytheon over those years. The area correlator compares scenes that the Tomahawk flies over to stored references in its memory to refine navigation accuracy. Other guidance components included in this award are the illuminator and electro-optical sensor.

"Our correlation technology, invented here in the 1960s, has made possible, in part, the improved accuracy required of weapons to enhance lethality and minimize collateral damage," said Al Barber, vice president-programs and operations at Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems, Akron.

Tomahawk cruise missiles, manufactured by Raytheon, were first used during Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s. Tomahawk cruise missiles also have been purchased by the British Royal Navy for firing from Trafalgar-class submarines.

In 1994, Lockheed Martin in Akron (then known as Loral Tactical Defense Systems) won a five-year production contract as part of Team Tomahawk, now headed by Raytheon to supply more than 1,200 correlators. Lockheed Martin earned a certified supplier designation in 1991 for achieving a quality rating of 97 percent during DSMAC IIA production.

Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems-Akron, Ohio, is a supplier of guidance and imaging sensor systems, tactical aircraft simulation and training devices, lighter-than-air surveillance systems, and antisubmarine weapons systems.

Cary J. Dell, Phone: 330-796-8458 (tel), cary.j.dell@lmco.com