Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control and a team of major international aerospace and defense companies today announced the official formation of Team Janus, which is competing for the pending NATO Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence (TBMD) Feasibility Study. Eight of the 10 Team Janus team member companies are European.

The NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency (NC3A) is responsible for the study and is expected to award two Feasibility Study contracts in late May 2001, with work scheduled to start on the contracts in July 2001. The initial steps leading to the formation of Team Janus were announced in July 2000 at the Farnborough Air Show.

The Team Janus consortium is composed of the following companies: Lockheed Martin Corporation acting through Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control (U.S.), Aerospatiale Matra Missiles (France), Alenia Marconi Systems (UK and Italy), BAE SYSTEMS, EADS/LFK-Lenkflugkorpersysteme GmbH (Germany) acting also for Military Aircraft, Ground Radars and ASTRIUM GmbH, Matra-BAe Dynamics (France and UK), and TRW Space and Missile Systems Division (U.S.).

Supporting Team Janus are additional companies from Greece, The Netherlands, Spain, Turkey and the U.S.

Team Janus is named after the Roman god Janus, who had two faces that looked to the past and to the future simultaneously. Team Janus represents the transition between localized, area air defense of the past, and multi- national, fully integrated TBMD capable air defense of the future.

Team Janus has been formed to fully meet the challenges offered by the NATO TBMD Feasibility Study. Team members were selected because of their unparalleled capabilities and expertise in the fields of missile defense analysis, hardware production and optimization, and delivery of total integrated system-of-systems solutions to air defense.

  For the NATO TBMD Feasibility Study, Team Janus is uniquely qualified to:
  --  Determine the feasibility of meeting the requirements set out in the
      NATO Staff Target.
  --  Identify alternative ways of meeting the NATO Staff Target.
  --  Recommend an architectural solution that achieves an appropriate
      balance among performance, timescales, cost and risk, as well as the
      individual classes of systems of which that architecture is composed
      (allowing for the widest range of national systems to be integrated).
  --  Recommend the range of eventual numbers of these systems that will be
      needed, based on a variety of illustrative scenarios.
  --  Identify possible industrial strategies within which NATO might pursue
      the acquisition and in-service operation and support of active layered
      TBMD.
  --  Prepare plans and documentation to support the next stages of an
      active layered TBMD program, including cost breakdowns, refined
      schedules and inputs to support draft NATO Staff Requirements.

Combining these areas and successfully synthesizing an optimal solution requires a broad understanding of the complexities inherent in such a unique system-of-systems. Team Janus has been carefully composed to meet these challenges. The team members have unrivalled experience in TBMD studies, as well as a complete knowledge of relevant product technologies. The team members combined to provide extensive expertise in multi-national system-of- systems integration, where major considerations are more than just technical, and include political, social, economic and cultural issues.

NATO TBMD Feasibility Study Background

The need for a TBMD Feasibility Study is driven by the NATO policy on Extended Air Defence. In 1993, the NATO Council approved a conceptual framework for Extended Air Defence, devised by the NATO Air Defence Committee.

The requirement called for the development of an alliance capability to counter, among other things, the risk posed by tactical ballistic missiles (TBMs). Subsequently in 1997, the NATO Military Committee approved a Military Operational Requirement for active TBMD. In 1998, the Conference of National Armaments Directors approved a program plan for the acquisition of active layered TBMD to address the Military Operational Requirement.

By virtue of its broad diversification and specialization, Team Janus is well positioned to render a world-class multi-national and fully integrated solution for NATO TBMD.

For additional information on Lockheed Martin, visit http://www.lockheedmartin.com/.

SOURCE: Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control