A senior Lockheed Martin official told reporters attending the Farnborough Air Show today that Lockheed Martin partnerships around the world are providing military customers with enterprise support solutions to challenges brought on by increasing operational deployments, tightening budgets and aging weapons systems.

"As a global enterprise with alliances in more than 75 countries, Lockheed Martin supports its customers with technically advanced sustainment concepts leveraged by its engineering know-how and expertise," said Marillyn Hewson, executive vice president, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Global Sustainment. "Our customers can depend on us to provide the kind of tailored sustainment and logistics solutions they need to keep their airplanes flying."

With more than 39,000 military aviation assets deployed worldwide and an increasing desire for contractor support to enhance platform readiness, Lockheed Martin's global support enterprise provides best value and reliable total system capability for the wide range of products manufactured by the corporation.

Lockheed Martin embraces the performance-based logistics (PBL) concept and has a number of award winning examples of successful partnerships. The corporation also develops training programs integrated with its support packages for its customers to improve operational availability and ensure that mission-critical equipment and programs remain relevant for future requirements.

Some of the corporation's successful PBL partnerships are:

-- C-130 -- Lockheed Martin, Marshall Aerospace and Rolls-Royce are working as a successful team to support the multiyear sustainment contract for the United Kingdom's C-130 aircraft. This partnership with the Royal Air Force, called Hercules Integrated Operational Support (HIOS), will ensure the Royal Air Force C-130s remain at a high level of readiness, and is expected to save the British taxpayers millions of pounds over the next 20 years.

-- F-117 -- Lockheed Martin's Total System Sustainment Partnership (TSSP) with the U.S. Air Force for the F-117 Night Hawk provided complete sustaining engineering and total logistics support including delivery of technical publications and incorporation of lean manufacturing and repair processes. This successful program saved the U.S. Air Force millions of dollars over an eight-year period, reduced manpower as well as the logistics footprint, and slashed impaired capability response time by more than 40 percent.

-- H-60 -- The H-60 Tip-to-Tail support arrangement, a long-term fixed price per flight hour agreement, has provided the U.S. Air Force with an 88 percent reduction in logistics response time and more than 71 percent reduction in backorders. This partnering concept integrates the supply support of 16 OEMs and 2 depots that keep this vital asset of the U.S. Air Force mission ready for years to come.

-- F-35 -- The experiences and innovations in support of programs like F-117 (TSSP) are being integrated into new air platforms and combat systems such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The F-35 sustainment model begins with an aircraft built to new standards of reliability, with state-of-the-art prognostics/diagnostic systems that will reduce support costs by over 20 percent.

"What our customers demand is increased system performance and availability, and decreased cost for the life of their platforms. They want to spend the limited funds they have on new equipment with increased capability, and they want a lower cost to maintain these new combat systems over their life-cycle. We find ways to help them do both," Hewson said.

Lockheed Martin is a major supplier of logistics systems and services to military and civil government customers. The corporation provides solutions for platform maintenance, modifications and repair, material readiness and distribution, and global supply chain command and control.

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 2007 sales of $42.billion.

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SOURCE: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company