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Lockheed Martin Receives Contracts Totaling $603 Million for GMLRS Rockets and HIMARS Launchers

Posted on: Monday, 2 February 2009, 11:31 CST

DALLAS, Feb. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has received contracts totaling $603 million from the U.S. Army Aviation & Missile Command for the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), both combat proven and highly successful in the current Global War on Terror.

Work on the contracts will be performed at the company's facilities in Camden, AR, and Grand Prairie, TX, with the last contract scheduled for completion in the last part of 2011.

"In theater, the GMLRS Unitary rocket has earned the nickname 'The 70-kilometer Sniper Rifle,' and continues to live up to that reputation mission after mission," said Col. David J. Rice, U.S. Army program manager for Precision Fires, Rocket and Missile Systems. "In fact, over 1,000 have been fired in support of the Global War on Terrorism. GMLRS has changed the way fires are applied throughout the battlefield, making it the absolute 'King of Battle,' providing responsive, precision fires enabled by unsurpassed system reliability and maintainability."

"HIMARS brings the frontline Soldiers and Marines an agile, responsive and accurate delivery system of extremely precise fires," said Col. Tony Daskevich, the U.S. Army's Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) capabilities manager for Rockets and Missile Systems. "HIMARS' exceptional mobility, transportability and reliability have been keys to highly effective, accurate fire support during combat operations in support of the Global War on Terrorism."

"These systems continue to make their mark with our customers," said Rick Edwards, vice president of Tactical Missiles at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "HIMARS and GMLRS, with their mobility and surgical precision, coupled with a world-class logistics footprint, have changed the way supporting fires are applied in urban and counter insurgency fights. Their continued modernization keeps them relevant to the Warriors who defend us on freedom's frontiers."

Guided Unitary MLRS is the newest variant which leverages the Guided MLRS experience and investment to integrate a unitary warhead with a multi-mode fuze to expand the MLRS target set to include point targets within urban and complex environments. In January 2005, the U.S. Army issued an Urgent Need Statement for acceleration of Guided Unitary deliveries in support of counter fire operations. Lockheed Martin delivered the first 72 GMLRS Unitary rockets in June 2005 satisfying the requirements of the Urgent Need Statement. The first 900-plus rockets were delivered to the U.S. in 2005 and 2006.

GMLRS is an all-weather, precision strike, artillery rocket system that achieves greater range and precision accuracy requiring fewer rockets to defeat targets, thereby reducing the number of rockets necessary to defeat current targets, as well as limiting collateral damage. GMLRS is a Current Force system that provides the joint Warfighter with immediate, precision fires to engage, destroy and deny terrain to the enemy. GMLRS is effective against counter fire, air defense, and light materiel and personnel targets. GMLRS incorporates a Global Positioning System-aided inertial guidance package integrated on a product improved rocket body. Additionally, small canards on the Guided Rocket nose add basic maneuverability to further enhance the accuracy of the system.

HIMARS can accommodate the entire family of MLRS munitions, including all variants of the Guided MLRS rocket and Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles. Designed to enable troops to engage and defeat artillery, air defense concentrations, trucks, light armor and personnel carriers, as well as support troop and supply concentrations, HIMARS can move away from the area at high speed following missile launch, well before enemy forces are able to locate the launch site.

Because of its C-130 transportability, HIMARS can be deployed into areas previously inaccessible to heavier launchers and provides a force multiplier to the modular brigade. It also incorporates the self-loading, autonomous features that have made MLRS the premier rocket artillery system in the world. HIMARS carries a single six-pack of MLRS rockets, or one ATACMS missile. Its fire control system, electronics and communications units are interchangeable with the existing MLRS M270A1 launcher, and the crew and training are the same. HIMARS prototypes were successfully employed in Operations Iraqi Freedom.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 146,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2008 sales of $42.7 billion.

For additional information, visit our web site:

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/

SOURCE Lockheed Martin

Source: PR Newswire

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