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Press Media Wire (Press Release) - Feb 17,2009 - (BusinessAviationJournal.com Via PressMediaWire) SUNNYVALE, Calif., February 17th, 2009 -- A U.S. Air Force/Lockheed
Martin [NYSE: LMT] team announced today that the Defense Satellite
Communications System (DSCS) III constellation has surpassed 200 years
of on-orbit operations, the longest total operational experience of any
U.S. military communications satellite constellation. Lockheed
Martin designed and built 14 DSCS spacecraft for the Military Satellite
Communications Wing at the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems
Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif. The system provides
uninterrupted secure voice and high-data rate communications to
Department of Defense users; essential tools in monitoring events and
deploying and sustaining forces anywhere in the world. The DSCS
III satellites have a design life of 10-years, however, the team's
ability to manage and maximize fuel usage allowed the satellites to
exceed their design life by several years. Currently, 10 spacecraft
provide or have provided service for a total of over 71 years beyond
their design lives and continue to perform with outstanding results. “We
take great pride in the DSCS constellation’s proven performance and the
added value it is providing to the nation as it exceeds its design
life," said Kevin M. Bilger, Lockheed Martin’s vice president and
general manager of Global Communications Systems. “DSCS’s reliability
has served as the backbone of military communications capabilities and
will continue to play a pivotal national security role for years to
come.” Lockheed Martin is also progressing on the U.S. Air
Force’s protected and highly secure communications satellite system,
the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) program. AEHF satellites
will replace the Lockheed Martin-built Milstar constellation, increase
data rates by a factor of five and the number of connections by a
factor of two, permitting transmission of more tactical military
communications, such as real-time video, battlefield maps and targeting
data. The first Lockheed Martin-built AEHF spacecraft has completed
initial thermal vacuum testing and is planned for delivery to the Air
Force in 2010. The current Milstar constellation continues to provide
secure, reliable and robust communications to U.S. and Allied Forces.
By April, the constellation will surpass 50 total years of on orbit
operations. The company is leveraging its unparalleled expertise
in fielding proven technologies for advanced military communications
systems, as it leads a team in the competition for the next-generation
Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT). TSAT provides
significantly more capacity and connections than the Milstar and AEHF
systems, improving availability of protected satellite communications
for future military operations. Lockheed Martin Space Systems
Company, a major operating unit of Lockheed Martin Corporation,
designs, develops, tests, manufactures, and operates a full spectrum of
advanced-technology systems for national security, civil, and
commercial customers. Chief products include human space flight
systems; a full range of remote sensing, navigation, meteorological and
communications satellites and instruments; space observatories and
interplanetary spacecraft; laser radar; fleet ballistic missiles; and
missile defense systems. 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. Media Contact: Michael Friedman, (408) 742-3516; e-mail michael.1.friedman@lmco.com NOTE TO EDITORS: High and low resolution images of the DSCS can be found at:
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/products/DefenseSatelliteCommunicationsSyste/ High and low resolution images of AEHF can be found at:
www.lockheedmartin.com/AEHF ### SOURCE: Lockheed Martin Corp. |
