At 4:30 p.m. EDT (3:30 p.m. CDT; 2:30 p.m. MDT; 1:30 p.m. PDT; and 9:30 p.m. GMT) on Friday, Oct. 26, the U.S. Government will announce the winner of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) competition, projected to be the largest defense program in U.S. history.

Lockheed Martin, which is competing for the JSF contract, will assemble JSF employees at its Fort Worth, Texas, facility to hear the announcement as it is being made by the U.S. Department of Defense in Washington, D.C. Due to the great interest in the decision, the news media also are invited to attend.

IN-PLANT MEDIA OPPORTUNITY: Regardless of the decision, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company and JSF Program executives will be available for comment following the announcement. Members of the news media will be admitted to the Fort Worth plant beginning at 2 p.m. CDT. Members of the news media may also view the announcement live via satellite using the following coordinates:

  Satellite:           Telstar 6
  Transponder:         K 14 (Ku analog)
  DL Frequency:        11966.5 Horizontal
  Video:               Analog NTSC
  Audio:               Dual Mono on both 6.2 and 6.8

PHONE-IN NEWS CONFERENCE: At 6:30 p.m. EDT (5:30 p.m. CDT; 4:30 p.m. MDT; 3:30 p.m. PDT; and 11:30 p.m. GMT) the company will host a news teleconference with Dain Hancock, president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co.; Tom Burbage, executive vice president and general manager of the Lockheed Martin JSF program; Peter Shaw of Northrop Grumman, mission systems director for the Lockheed Martin JSF program; and Martin Taylor of BAE SYSTEMS, director of subcontract management for the Lockheed Martin JSF program.

  U.S.-based reporters may call 800-559-9370 to participate.
  International correspondents may call 847-619-6368.
  Please give the following confirmation number to the operator: 4926114
  The title of the conference is: Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter
  Announcement

A digital taped replay of the teleconference will be available through Nov. 2 at 888-769-9756, access code 4926114#. For international callers, dial 630-652-3045, access code 4936114#.

A JSF media kit will be available online at http://www.newstream.com/cgi/bin/display_reg_story.cgi?4188. Reporters should go to http://www.newstream.com/ and fill out the short registration form. Registration is free. A Newstream media relations team will be standing by to review each registration as quickly as possible and will provide a personal access code to the site.

The stealthy, supersonic JSF is designed to replace a variety of U.S. and U.K. military aircraft, including the Harrier, A-10, F-14, F-16 and certain models of the F/A-18.

For information on JSF and Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, visit http://www.lmaeronautics.com/

For government information on JSF, visit http://www.jast.mil/

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

CONTACT: John Smith, +1-817-213-7714 or john.a1.smith@lmco.com; or John Kent, +1-817-454-0279 or john.r.kent@lmco.com, both of Lockheed Martin

PRNewswire -- Oct. 26

SOURCE: Lockheed Martin