The U.S. Navy recently awarded Lockheed Martin a $33 million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for the technology demonstration phase of the Joint and Allied Threat Awareness System (JATAS). The JATAS program will provide the next generation threat warning system to protect U.S. Navy and Marine Corps assault aircraft for increased survivability in hostile environments.

Under the Technology Demonstration contract, Lockheed Martin will partner with DRS Infrared Technologies in Dallas, TX, and Goodrich ISR Systems in Danbury, CT, to design, develop and demonstrate JATAS prototypes during a 16-month period of performance ending January 2011. JATAS will provide rotary-wing assault aircraft with an integrated infrared-based missile warning, laser warning and hostile fire indication defensive suite.

"We're looking forward to leveraging more than two decades of experience in infrared missile warning development, production and field sustainment to provide an affordable JATAS threat warning solution that will increase the survivability of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps' most valuable assets ? its pilots and aircrews," said Matt Milligan, Platform Survivability program director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.

Key requirements for JATAS include a modular open-system architecture for plug-and-play capability and rapid technology upgrade, improved performance in varying clutter environments with minimal false alarms, as well as the ability to provide an upgraded sensor suite under the very limited size, weight, power and cooling requirements needed to preserve the aircraft's core mission load carrying capability.

Another critical element to assault aircraft survivability and a key requirement for JATAS is hostile fire indication - the ability to detect, track and measure the proximity of rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire. Under a recently completed Naval Research Laboratory Hostile Fire Indicator contract, Lockheed Martin successfully demonstrated a fully-capable hostile fire indication system, showing that this capability is a mature solution for JATAS.

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