NEW REPAIR AND RECOVERY VEHICLE ACHIEVES SERVICE ACCEPTANCE ON SCHEDULE

London, August 9, 2006

Lockheed Martin UK has achieved service acceptance for the Ministry of Defence’s Multiple Launch Rocket System’s (MLRS) new Repair and Recovery Vehicles (RRV).

The contract to provide four RRVs was let to Lockheed Martin UK - INSYS in 2004.  Since then a prototype vehicle has been designed, built and subjected to a series of exhaustive tests. Now, having passed all the tests and met all the MoD’s Key User Requirements, ‘Service Acceptance’ has been achieved and the production schedule to provide a fleet of four vehicles is on target.

“Achieving service acceptance exactly to schedule is a testament to the hard work of everyone involved in this project,” said Ian Stopps, Lockheed Martin UK chief executive. “The RRVs are hugely important vehicles; without them the MoD can’t support the MLRS as it might like to, so getting them into service on time is essential.

“Our experience in logistics with the JAMES programme and in providing through-life support to our customers means we are well placed to meet the important demands of this contract and we are looking forward to these vehicles entering service later this year.”  he added.

The RRV’s are necessary for the smooth running of the MLRS fleet.  Each vehicle, which is designed on the base used by the MLRS themselves (the M993), comes complete with winch and crane systems, spare power pack and a full set of vehicle and recovery tool kits.

Lockheed Martin is the design authority and the vehicle integration is in progress by sub contractor JS Chinn, Hinckley.

Manufactured by Lockheed Martin, the 227mm MLRS is a self-propelled surface-to-surface artillery rocket system. Performance with the US Army has seen it achieve ranges of between 30km and 300km, depending upon the ammunition used. The crew of three can fire up to twelve MLRS rockets in less than 60 seconds without leaving the protection of the cab.

Lockheed Martin UK, a unit of Lockheed Martin Corporation, is a leader in systems integration working on major programmes spanning the aerospace, defence and civil sectors. Lockheed Martin works with more than 100 business partners and employs over 1500 people at 15 sites across the UK.

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Media contact:

John Fyall, Lockheed Martin UK, 02392 443342 e-mail: john.fyall@lmco.com