Lockheed Martin Delivers First 43 DSMACS of 644 Ordered for Tomahawk Cruise Missile Replenishment
AKRON, OH, August 30th, 2000 -- Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems-Akron has delivered the first 43 digital scene matching area correlators to Raytheon Company of the 644 ordered as part of the U.S. Navy's effort to replenish its Tomahawk cruise missile inventory. Lockheed Martin's DSMAC is the terminal guidance system used in the land-attack Tomahawk cruise missile. This cruise missile was used extensively in Operation Desert Storm, Desert Fox and other stand-off actions conducted from surface ships and submarines. In Operation Desert Storm, Tomahawk land attack missiles were among the first weapons launched against Iraq to quash its invasion of Kuwait.
The Lockheed Martin 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.
"Early delivery of this first quantity of DSMACs (correlators) demonstrates our ability to restart production of a key component within a critical weapon system. The Tomahawk has been a valuable asset within the U.S. arsenal, performing missions at stand-off ranges," Al Barber, vice president-programs and operations, said.
Tomahawk cruise missiles, manufactured by Raytheon, were first used during Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s. Tomahawk cruise missiles also have been launched by the UK Royal Navy 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, 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, designs and develops simulation and training systems, undersea and antisubmarine weapons systems, high-speed parallel processing computers, digital image processing systems, guidance systems, and ship defense and electronic combat systems.
Cary J. Dell
330.796.8458
e-mail cary.j.dell@lmco.com
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