Lockheed Martin broke ground today on two new facilities at its Space Systems Company operations in Newtown, Pennsylvania, that will support spacecraft programs for government and commercial customers.

A 15,000-square-foot multi-purpose conference center will facilitate large-scale meetings such as design reviews, demonstration initiatives and customer events. The new meeting facility will accommodate up to 250 people and offers users the ability to subdivide the space into separate meeting rooms as well as enjoy state of the art audio visual and IT equipment.

A 17,000-square-foot addition will be constructed at the west end of the facility's Product Team Building (PTB) to expand Lockheed Martin's satellite manufacturing capability. The addition will house a near-field antenna range, a new passive inter-modulation (PIM) chamber, and a new antenna assembly clean room. In addition, product holding and fixture preparation areas are planned.

Both projects will be certified under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. LEED provides a suite of standards for environmentally sustainable construction, and LEED certified buildings typically use resources more efficiently when compared to conventional buildings. The estimated cost of the projects is $24 million.

Several dignitaries participated in the groundbreaking ceremony, some of which include: Rep. Patrick Murphy, U.S. House of Representatives, 8th District; Sister Francesca Onley, President, Holy Family University; Ms. Diane M. Ellis-Marseglia, Bucks County Commissioner; Rep. Steve Santarsiero, 31st Legislative District, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; Col. David W. Madden, Commander of the U.S. Air Force's Global Positioning Systems GPS Wing; and Mr. Paul Strazdus of the U.S. Navy's Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) Program.

Lockheed Martin's Newtown facility employs about 1200 people and serves as the headquarters for Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems (LMCSS) and the next-generation Global Positioning System (GPS) III and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R-Series (GOES-R) programs. LMCSS has delivered 37 communications satellites based on the A2100 platform to customers world-wide. The GPS III and GOES-R programs were awarded to Lockheed Martin in May 2008 and July 2009 respectively.

"This expansion signifies Lockheed Martin's long-term commitment to our partnership with Newtown Township and to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," said LMCSS Vice President and General Manager Marshall Byrd. "Our new conference center will enable us to better serve our customers around the world, and our manufacturing expansion will facilitate assembly, integration and test of essential GPS III components," continued Byrd.

The facility also builds components for Lockheed Martin government programs such as

the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) system, which will provide global, highly secure, protected, survivable communications for warfighters operating on ground, sea and air platforms, and the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS), which will greatly expand the capacity of UHF communications and aid the military as it increasingly relies on more agile and mobile forces.

The Newtown facility is part of Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company (LMSSC), a major operating unit of Lockheed Martin Corporation. LMSSC designs and develops, tests, manufactures and operates a full spectrum of advanced-technology systems for national security and military, civil government 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; ballistic missiles; missile defense systems; and nanotechnology research and development.

About Lockheed Martin

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 146,000 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 2008 sales of $42.7 billion.

Media Contact: Dee Valleras, 215-497-4185; cell 215-275-1874; e-mail, dee.valleras@lmco.com

For more information about Lockheed Martin, see our web site at http://www.lockheedmartin.com.

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SOURCE: Lockheed Martin