The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has presented a Commander's National Award to Lockheed Martin and other members of the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft (MPRA) Acoustic Commonality Team.

The Commander's National Award recognizes technical, business and leadership excellence in support of NAVAIR's strategic priorities including current readiness, future capabilities and people. Lockheed Martin was recognized in the research, development, test and evaluation category.

"This is a tremendous achievement and I commend Lockheed Martin's participation with the Navy and Boeing to align the P-3 and P-8 acoustic systems to a common open architecture framework," said Capt. Mike Moran, MPRA program manager for NAVAIR. "The MPRA fleet will benefit from this joint effort for years to come."

The MPRA Common Acoustic Software Baseline is deployed on the U.S. Navy's P-3C Orion Anti-Submarine aircraft and ready for incorporation into the P-8A Poseidon aircraft. This program implements a rapid Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) insertion model for aircraft acoustics based on the successful Acoustic Rapid COTS Insertion program aboard U.S. Navy submarines. In the aircraft program, acoustic systems on the P-3C receive annual software advanced processing builds, called APBs. Along with the APBs, hardware technology refresh activity occurs approximately every two years to keep the acoustic suites on these aircraft continuously refreshed with the latest acoustic signal processing capabilities. This program provides for the future incorporation of signal processing into the P-8A platform with minimal cost and risk.

"Lockheed Martin has been the prime contractor for the P-3C Acoustic system for more than 25 years," said Dave Dietzen, Lockheed Martin senior program manager, P-3 Programs. "Working with the Navy to leverage open architecture and the methodologies from an ARCI business model into the Air community has provided significant advancements in our ability to transition new warfighting capabilities to the fleet."

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 2008 sales of $42.7 billion.

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SOURCE: Lockheed Martin