The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and Lockheed Martin inaugurated the new Targets and Countermeasures Single Integration Capability in Courtland, Ala., today. The Courtland capability will provide the most efficient, effective method for assembling and integrating realistic targets for the Ballistic Missile Defense System.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071015/AQM046)

Lockheed Martin, as the MDA's prime contractor for Targets and Countermeasures, will deliver targets from Courtland to ranges around the globe to test Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, Aegis, Ground-based Midcourse, Airborne Laser, sensors and other Ballistic Missile Defense System elements -- demonstrating both element- and system-level capabilities against current and future threats to the U.S., friends, allies and troops abroad.

Approximately 200 people attended the event. Prominent among the attendees were: Rep. Robert B. Aderholt; Maj. Gen. Chris T. Anzalone, deputy for Test, Integration and Fielding, MDA; and Mary Ann Stasiak, Targets and Countermeasures program director, MDA. State and local officials included: State Rep. John J. "Jody" Letson and Courtland Mayor Ted Letson. Lockheed Martin officials included: Linda Reiners, vice president, Lockheed Martin Missile Defense Systems; James Tevepaugh, vice president, Lockheed Martin Target and Countermeasure Programs; and Bruce Thompson, director, Lockheed Martin Courtland Operations.

"Missile defense has become an increasingly important part of our national defense," said Rep. Aderholt. "With this new capability I believe Lockheed Martin will continue to be a leader in the field, benefiting not only Courtland and North Alabama, but the nation as well."

Reiners, who leads the Missile Defense Systems line of business for Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, expressed the strong Lockheed Martin commitment to Northern Alabama. "We chose Courtland because of our confidence in the workforce and our dedication to the community," she said. "We would like to thank Mayor Letson of Courtland and the local Alabama team, Gov. Riley and Lt. Gov. Folsom, Senators Sessions and Shelby and Representatives Aderholt and Cramer, as well as Lt Gen. Obering for all the support that made this day possible."

She continued, "This capability in Courtland will produce the Flexible Target Family, or FTF. The FTF will provide the most flexible, cost-effective, reliable targets available to prove the capabilities of the Ballistic Missile Defense System." At the ceremony, Reiners expressed her confidence in the Courtland team led by Thompson to fulfill its mission of delivering targets with enhanced realism efficiently and with the highest probability of mission success.

The inauguration ceremony occurred in a new building constructed specifically for the Targets and Countermeasures Program by the Doster Walbridge Company, a general contractor based in Birmingham, Ala. This is the first building needed to support integrated processing planned for the 660-acre Courtland site. Lockheed Martin also has selected Courtland as its assembly and integration site for the Multiple Kill Vehicle program, for which Lockheed Martin Space Systems is MDA's prime contractor; Multiple Kill Vehicle work in Courtland will begin in about three years.

MDA's Targets and Countermeasures Program provides targets and countermeasures designed to represent adversary missiles to permit realistic testing of the weapons systems and other elements of MDA's Ballistic Missile Defense System. Awarded the Targets and Countermeasures Program prime contract in 2003, Lockheed Martin Space Systems leads an industry team with expertise in systems engineering, design and manufacture, in addition to air-, land- and sea-launch capabilities. Lockheed Martin's Targets and Countermeasures program office is located in Huntsville, Ala. The company also performs work in Arlington, Va., Denver, Colo., Albuquerque, N.M., and Sunnyvale, Calif., in addition to Courtland, Ala.

Lockheed Martin Courtland Operations employs approximately 40 people.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, a major operating unit of Lockheed Martin Corporation, designs, develops, tests, manufactures and operates a full spectrum of advanced-technology systems for national security, civil and commercial customers. Chief products include human space flight systems; a full range of remote sensing, navigation, meteorological and communications satellites and instruments; space observatories and interplanetary spacecraft; laser radar; fleet ballistic missiles; and missile defense systems.

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. The corporation reported 2006 sales of $39.6 billion.

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SOURCE: Lockheed Martin