Lockheed Martin UK has received a prestigious Supplier Performance Award from NATS. This is the second year in a row that the UK air navigation service provider has honored Lockheed Martin as its top supplier for meeting supply chain management performance criteria.

"The Lockheed Martin team consistently demonstrates its commitment to excellence," said NATS Supply Chain and Facilities Management Director Chris Odam. "This is a great achievement for one of our key suppliers with whom we've had a long-standing relationship," he said.

Lockheed Martin achieved the highest rating across four key areas being assessed by NATS in its Supplier Performance Management (SPM) program, which includes various NATS supply chain management stakeholders. Quantitative and qualitative criteria were used to measure performance.

A formalized process that benchmarks a supplier's performance, NATS' SPM program continuously aims to improve how a supplier and a customer work together in partnership. The categories judged were commercial, delivery, management systems, and technology and capability.

"Our focus the past year was to map our air traffic management capabilities with NATS' strategic needs -- now as well as long term. We're committed to helping NATS achieve its deployment milestones for the Interim Future Area Control Tools Support (iFACTS) program," said Martin Rolfe, director of Lockheed Martin's UK air traffic management programs. "I'm proud that our team is able to provide NATS with the right technology and skills to help them perform this important task, and pleased that our partnership continues to prove so effective."

The Lockheed Martin team implements upgrades to the NATS Swanwick Air Traffic Control Center operating system and supports the development of iFACTS, which is a decision support tool aimed at increasing a controller's situational awareness for aircraft separation.

Lockheed Martin UK, a unit of Lockheed Martin Corporation, is a leader in systems integration working on major programs spanning the aerospace, defense and civil sectors. Lockheed Martin works with more than 100 business partners and employs over 1,700 people at sites across the UK.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that 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 $41.9 billion.

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CONTACT: Marc Holloran, +44

SOURCE: Lockheed Martin