The Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) Missile, produced by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, has won the Daedalian's Weapons System Award, the Colonel Franklin C. Wolfe Memorial Trophy for 2000. The award was presented at the annual Daedalian Convention on May 23, 2001, in Las Vegas, N.V.

The Daedalian's trophy is presented annual to individuals, groups or organizations judged to have contributed the most outstanding weapons system development which operates, in whole or in part, in the aerospace environment. The recipients are selected by the individual services from nominations submitted by the Department of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, and the award is made on a rotational basis and in that order.

The donor of this trophy, the late Colonel Franklin C. Wolfe, served as Assistant Chief and then Chief of the Armament Laboratory of the Army Air Forces Materiel Command at Wright Field, Ohio, from 1939 until his retirement in 1944.

This significant honor is a tribute to the fine men and women of the combined government/industry team responsible for the many successes associated with the PAC-3 ground system and PAC-3 missile.

In February 2000, the PAC-3 Missile won the Aerospace Industry Award 2000 for the Space and Missiles category. Flight International magazine sponsored that competition. Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control's Orlando-based unit won the Daedalian's Award in 1997 for the Longbow Hellfire Anti-Tank Missile Systems, in 1994 for the Javelin Anti-Tank Missile Project, and in 1987 for the Low Altitude Navigation & Targeting Infrared for Night Systems (LANTIRN) program.

Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control is the prime contractor responsible for the PAC-3 Missile segment upgrade to the Patriot air defense system, which consists of the PAC-3 Missile, the missile canisters, the Fire Solution Computer and the Enhanced Launcher Electronics System.

The PAC-3 Missile has now had nine consecutive successful engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) test flights since 1997. The first two EMD missions were successfully conducted with special instrumentation packages in place of the full-up PAC-3 Missile seeker. The missions were structured to verify critical systems and missile performance prior to conducting target intercept flight tests.

The first PAC-3 Missile target intercept flight was on March 15, 1999. The second followed on September 16, 1999, with the third intercept of a TBM on February 5, 2000. Two successful cruise missile intercepts, on July 22 and 28, 2000, proved conclusively the PAC-3 Missile's ability to detect and destroy low-flying cruise missiles. The sixth successful intercept occurred on October 14, 2000, when the PAC-3 Missile intercepted and destroyed an incoming TBM target. The seventh intercept was on March 31, 2001, when a PAC- 3 destroyed another TBM target.

The PAC-3 Missile entered Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) in December 1999, with two follow-on LRIP contract in calendar year 2000. Several contracts for special hardware and long lead-time items have also been awarded to Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control since the beginning of the LRIP phase of the program. Initial fielding of the PAC-3 Missile is planned for later this year.

In addition to the nine successful PAC-3 Missile flight tests, the PAC-3's predecessor missile, the Extended-Range Interceptor, demonstrated three hits in a row during the demonstration/validation program in 1994. Two of those tests involved TBM targets and one involved an air-breathing target (simulating a cruise missile or aircraft).

The PAC-3 Missile is a high velocity, hit-to-kill missile and is the next generation Patriot missile being developed to provide increased capability against advanced theater ballistic missile, cruise missile and hostile aircraft. The PAC-3 Missile kills incoming targets by direct, body-to-body impact. The PAC-3 Missiles, when deployed in a Patriot battery, will significantly increase the Patriot system's firepower, since 16 PAC-3 Missiles load-out on a Patriot launcher, compared with four of the old Patriot missiles.

Located in Dallas, Tex.; Orlando, Fla.; and Sunnyvale, Calif., Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control develops, manufactures and supports advanced combat, missile, rocket and space systems. The company is organized in seven program/mission areas: Strike Weapons, Air Defense, Anti-Armor, Naval Munitions, Fire Control and Sensors, Fire Support and Product Development

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global enterprise principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced-technology systems, products and services. The Corporation's core businesses are systems integration, space, aeronautics and technology services.

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

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SOURCE: Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control