Lockheed Martin today opened the doors to new facilities at its Space Systems Company operations in Newtown, Pa. Ribbon-cutting ceremonies with community leaders and customers were conducted today for the $24 million expansion project which includes an addition to the facility's manufacturing capabilities as well as a conference center.

The new 15,000-square-foot multi-purpose Patriot Center will facilitate large-scale meetings such as spacecraft program design reviews, demonstration initiatives and customer events. The new meeting facility accommodates up to 250 people and offers users the ability to subdivide the space into separate meeting rooms as well as enjoy modernized audio visual and information technology equipment.

The 18,800-square-foot high bay addition at the west end of the facility's Product Team Building expands Lockheed Martin's satellite manufacturing capability, housing a near-field antenna range and antenna assembly clean room for manufacturing of Global Positioning System (GPS) components, and a passive inter-modulation chamber to test the frequency bands of all components produced in Newtown.

Both projects are designed to 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.

"This ribbon cutting ceremony marks another important milestone in the history of Lockheed Martin in Newtown," said Delaware Valley Operations vice president Robert Slegelmilch. "The new Patriot Center and satellite high bay addition are very tangible demonstrations of Lockheed Martin's commitment to Newtown and to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania."

"The Patriot Center, named after the brave men and women who serve our nation, will offer full-service conference facilities to our customers and employees," continued Slegelmilch. "Our satellite high bay addition will ensure quality manufacturing and testing of all satellite components produced at Newtown, including the next-generation Global Positioning System, known as GPS III."

Lockheed Martin's Newtown facility serves as the headquarters for Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, the U.S. Air Force's GPS III Space Segment program and NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R-Series (GOES-R) program. LMCSS has delivered 36 commercial 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. The facility also builds components, subsystems and systems for all Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company (LMSSC) lines of business, including military satellite communications programs such as the U.S. Air Force's Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) system and the U.S. Navy's Mobile User Objective System (MUOS).

The Newtown facility is part of 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; 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 136,000 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 2009 sales of $45.2 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