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Lockheed Martin Joint Venture Delivers Over-the-Horizon Radar to Australian Government

ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA, April 2nd, 2003 -- The Australian government will be able to conduct wide-area surveillance of the sea and air on its Northern coast following operational launch today of a network of over-the-horizon (OTH) high-frequency radars. RLM Management Pty Ltd, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and the Australian defense contractor, Tenix, delivered the (U.S) $503 million Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in a ceremony at the JORN Coordination Center, near Adelaide. JORN's ability to see "over the horizon" means that it can detect targets at a range almost ten times as great as conventional "line of sight" radars. JORN consists of two OTH radars, one in the East coast state of Queensland and the other in the state of Western Australia. Both radars will be operated from the JORN Coordination Center at the RAAF Base in Edinburgh, South Australia, where the ceremony took place. Each radar is supported by its own Frequency Management System along with 17 beacons placed around the Northern coastline, and on Christmas Island off the Northwestern coast.

As part of the operational launch, Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill toured the Coordination Center and was given a briefing.

"The JORN," said Minister Hill, "means we can now conduct continuous, all weather detection of air and surface targets up to 2000 kilometers away from the Australian coastline, in a 180-degree arc from Western Australia across the northern approaches to Australia and on around to the Eastern state of Queensland. The combined performance of the JORN total network will allow cost-effective surveillance of some 20 million square kilometers and act as an early warning trip-wire in the defense and protection of Australia and our national interests."

RLM Management Pty Ltd. is an equal-share joint venture company of Lockheed Martin and Tenix and was established in 1997 to manage completion of JORN for the primary Australian telecommunications provider, Telstra, which had won the original contract for the project in 1991. After considerable early success, RLM became the prime contractor in October 1999.

Added Minister Hill, "RLM's involvement in the project and its close engagement with Defense project and Scientific staff has successfully saved a troubled project."

"During the past year, JORN has undergone extensive testing and evaluation," observed Dave Miller, Lockheed Martin's director for JORN. "Last September, the entire system was operated for 28 consecutive days against

Ellen Mitchell, 315-456-3296; ellen.mitchell@lmco.com