Lockheed Martin and Spectrum Astro today announced a partnership agreement to pursue the development of GPS III, the next generation global positioning satellite system. This team is intensely focused on meeting the government's challenging requirement of this critical asset, and is committed to providing a solution that includes hyper-accurate positioning, velocity and timing data with confidence and security.

"Lockheed Martin brings a wealth of experience and advanced technology to the table, as well as expertise in integrating large, complex systems. The outcome of this partnership will be a team the government can rely on to provide an incredibly more capable GPS system," said John Sundquist, Vice President of Lockheed Martin Navigation Systems.

"We created this team because we realized that the combined team could do a better job than either company alone," said Dave Thompson, President of Spectrum Astro. "We employ an aggressive and modern approach to building space hardware. Our approach, coupled with Lockheed Martin's proven expertise, creates a compelling, powerful team to address the critical needs of our nation."

GPS III will address the challenging military transformational and civil needs across the globe, including advanced anti-jam capabilities, improved system security and accuracy, and reliability. The new satellite system will enhance space-based navigation and performance and set a new world standard for positioning and timing services. The team selected to meet this challenge will provide system and sustaining engineering, satellite development and production, Control Segment upgrades, and continuous research and development for this evolutionary system.

Spectrum Astro, headquartered in Gilbert, Arizona, is a privately held, rapidly-growing high technology company, specializing in the design, development, integration, testing, and production of high performance space- based satellite systems and subsystems. For more information, visit www.spectrumastro.com

Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin employs about 125,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation reported 2002 sales of $26.6 billion. For more information, visit www.lockheedmartin.com

SOURCE: Lockheed Martin