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Seventh Generation Lockheed Martin-Developed Aegis Weapon System Demonstrates Enhanced Capabilities in Sea Trials

Pascagoula, MS, March 10th, 2004 -- The seventh generation of the Lockheed Martin-developed Aegis Weapon System -- offering enhanced capabilities in electronic warfare, littoral operations and remote mine reconnaissance -- successfully completed extensive testing during sea trials recently onboard the Navy's newest Aegis-equipped Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Chung-Hoon (DDG 93).

During these trials, critical data was collected to assess the performance of the Aegis Weapon System, including its newest radar, SPY-1D(V), in a live, at-sea environment. The tests included two successful Standard Missile-2 firing and gun firing exercises.

"These sea trials confirmed the constantly-evolving capability of the Aegis Weapon System," said Orlando Carvalho, vice president of Lockheed Martin's Maritime Systems & Sensors Surface Systems line of business. "We worked closely with our Navy customer and the shipbuilder to provide the crew of Chung-Hoon with the very best integrated warfare system."

The SPY-1D(V) radar system is part of the seventh generation of the Aegis Weapon System. The radar adds the capability to operate more effectively in littoral environments, with automatic adaptive radar mode control as well as a more sophisticated ability to defeat electronic countermeasures.

Another integral part of this upgraded system is the ship's AN/SQQ-89 Undersea Warfare System, which also incorporates Lockheed Martin's Remote Minehunting System. This further enhances the ship's multi-mission role by providing an organic mine reconnaissance capability to carrier and expeditionary strike groups and increased synergy among major warfighting components on the ship.

The latest system upgrade also contains the first complete commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) Aegis advanced processing computing architecture. The transition to a complete COTS computing environment increases the systems' capability and is a major step toward an open architecture, which simplifies and accelerates introduction of future computing features and upgrades.

When paired with the MK41 Vertical Launching System and the AN/SQQ-89, the Aegis Combat System is capable of delivering ordnance in support of numerous missions and threat environments in naval warfare. The system is currently deployed on 67 U.S. Navy Aegis-equipped ships on station around the globe, and 22 more ships are planned. Aegis is the primary naval combat weapon system for Japan, and is part of two European ship construction programs ? the Spanish F-100 and the Norwegian New Frigate. Additionally, the Republic of Korea recently selected Aegis for its newest class of destroyers.

Kathy Baier, 856-722-3006; cell 609-472-7954; Kathleen.m.baier@lmco.com

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