Lockheed Martin announced today that its Missiles and Fire Control business unit achieved the highest possible rating for maturity of its engineering and management processes. The company's Maturity Level 5 rating was established during its recent Capability Maturity Model(R) Integration (CMMI) appraisal.

Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control demonstrated Maturity Level 5 compliance across its entire enterprise for the full CMMI model, the CMMI for Systems Engineering, Software Engineering, Integrated Product and Process Development and Supplier Sourcing (CMMI-SE/SW/IPPD/SS) Version 1.1.

CMMI is recognized as the standard for independent benchmarking of industry maturity in critical technical and managerial areas.

"This exemplary rating speaks to our culture of process improvement," said James F. Berry, president - Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "That kind of work ethic enables us to efficiently deliver dependable products that meet -- and beat -- customer expectations of schedule, cost and performance. I am tremendously proud of this enterprise-wide designation."

Companies operating at Maturity Level 5 focus on continually improving process performance through both incremental and innovative technological improvements. The result is improved quality, greater productivity and predictable program performance.

The independent firm Systems and Software Consortium, Inc., led the appraisal using the Standard CMMI Appraisal Method for Process Improvement (SCAMPI(SM)) Version 1.1. The assessment encompassed multiple sites, program management, and systems, hardware and software engineering disciplines.

The CMMI product suite was developed by government, industry and the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute, a federally funded research and development center, to integrate multiple capability maturity models into a single improvement framework for use by organizations pursuing all- encompassing process improvement.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin employs about 140,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.

             For additional information, visit our web site:
                      http://www.lockheedmartin.com/

  (R) CMMI and Capability Maturity Model are registered in the U.S. Patent
      and Trademark Office by Carnegie Mellon University.

  (SM) SCAMPI is a service mark of Carnegie Mellon University.

FCMN Contact: craig.vanbebber@lmco.com

SOURCE: Lockheed Martin