Lockheed Martin announced today that it has successfully completed on-schedule the critical design review phase of the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) program and is beginning production of the next-generation military communications satellite system.

More than 350 representatives from the Defense Department, including members of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Strategic Command, as well as contractor teams, recently attended a four-day System Critical Design Review (CDR) at Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale, Calif. The review, which represented the culmination of the two-year CDR phase, validated the detailed design of the overall AEHF system to ensure it meets warfighter requirements.

"The team continues to make excellent progress on this vital program," said Julie Sattler, vice president, AEHF program, Lockheed Martin Space Systems. "The highly successful review demonstrated to the customer and user community the strength of our AEHF design. We look forward to delivering the tremendous capabilities that AEHF will provide, allowing the warfighter to accomplish operational missions with greater speed and effectiveness."

AEHF is the successor to the Milstar system and will provide global, highly secure, protected, survivable communications for warfighters in all services within the Department of Defense. AEHF will deliver 10 times greater total capacity and channel data rates six times higher than that of Milstar II communications satellites.

The AEHF system will feature several state-of-the-art technologies, including a sophisticated payload and phased array antennas provided by Northrop Grumman Space Technology of Redondo Beach, Calif., and an electric propulsion system, provided by Aerojet of Sacramento, Calif. Lockheed Martin's award-winning A2100 design will serve as the AEHF spacecraft bus. The Mission Control Segment, being led by Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems & Solutions in Valley Forge, Pa., will feature distributed communication planning, modernized commanding and high fidelity simulation.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Sunnyvale, Calif., is currently under contract to provide the first two Advanced EHF satellites and command control system to its customer, the MILSATCOM Program Office, located at the Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif. The first AEHF satellite is scheduled for launch in early 2007.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin employs about 130,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2003 sales of $31.8 billion.

For more information about Lockheed Martin Space Systems - Sunnyvale, see our website at http://lmms.external.lmco.com/

CONTACT: Media Contact: Steve Tatum, 408-742-7531; e-mail, Stephen.o.tatum@lmco.com

SOURCE: Lockheed Martin