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LOCKHEED MARTIN JOINT VENTURE DELIVERS OVER-THE-HORIZON RADAR
TO AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT

ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA, April 2, 2003    The Australian government will be able to conduct wide-area surveillance of the sea and air on its Northern coast following operational launch today of a network of over-the-horizon (OTH) high-frequency radars. RLM Management Pty Ltd, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and the Australian defense contractor, Tenix, delivered the (U.S) $503 million Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in a ceremony at the JORN Coordination Center, near Adelaide.

JORN's ability to see "over the horizon" means that it can detect targets at a range almost ten times as great as conventional "line of sight" radars. JORN consists of two OTH radars, one in the East coast state of Queensland and the other in the state of Western Australia. Both radars will be operated from the JORN Coordination Center at the RAAF Base in Edinburgh, South Australia, where the ceremony took place. Each radar is supported by its own Frequency Management System along with 17 beacons placed around the Northern coastline, and on Christmas Island off the Northwestern coast.

As part of the operational launch, Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill toured the Coordination Center and was given a briefing.

"The JORN," said Minister Hill, "means we can now conduct continuous, all weather detection of air and surface targets up to 2000 kilometers away from the Australian coastline, in a 180-degree arc from Western Australia across the northern approaches to Australia and on around to the Eastern state of Queensland. The combined performance of the JORN total network will allow cost-effective surveillance of some 20 million square kilometers and act as an early warning trip-wire in the defense and protection of Australia and our national interests."

RLM Management Pty Ltd. is an equal-share joint venture company of Lockheed Martin and Tenix and was established in 1997 to manage completion of JORN for the primary Australian telecommunications provider, Telstra, which had won the original contract for the project in 1991. After considerable early success, RLM became the prime contractor in October 1999.

Added Minister Hill, "RLM's involvement in the project and its close engagement with Defense project and Scientific staff has successfully saved a troubled project."

"During the past year, JORN has undergone extensive testing and evaluation," observed Dave Miller, Lockheed Martin's director for JORN. "Last September, the entire system was operated for 28 consecutive days against operationally representative targets, and its performance was assessed against more than 30 different and highly demanding measures of effectiveness. The results were outstanding. In recent months, JORN has been comprehensively audited to confirm its compliance with more than 30,000 specifications and requirements."

Final acceptance of JORN by the RAAF is scheduled to take place mid-year.

The Tenix Group is Australia's largest defense and technology contractor with 4,000 employees nationwide.

Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems (NE&SS)-Radar Systems employs over 3,000 people with facilities in the U.S. and three other countries, and is a unit of Lockheed Martin Corporation. Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global enterprise principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced-technology systems, products and services. The corporation's core businesses are systems integration, space, aeronautics, and technology services.

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