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U.S. Air Force ready to launch last Lockheed Martin-built Milstar
satellite 

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla., April 2, 2003 -- A combined
U.S. Air Force/Lockheed Martin-led team is ready to launch the last
Milstar II satellite aboard a Titan IVB launch vehicle from Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on Sunday, April 6. Lockheed
Martin Space Systems Company built the satellite and launch vehicle
at its operations in Sunnyvale, Calif. and Denver, Colo.
respectively.

Milstar is the Defense Department's most technologically advanced
telecommunications satellite system, which provides critical, secure
links to U.S. national leaders, air, land and sea forces around the
globe and has been used to support military operations since 1994.
The last satellite is the fourth to carry the Medium Data Rate (MDR)
payload. Built by Boeing Satellite Systems, El Segundo, Calif., the
MDR payload has 32 channels, which can process data at speeds up to
1.5 megabits per second. Increased data rates can be used for
applications such as distribution of air tasking orders and targeting
updates to the military forces. 

The spacecraft also features the Low Data Rate (LDR) payload, built
by Northrop Grumman Space Technology (formerly TRW Space and
Electronics), Redondo Beach, Calif. Northrop Grumman also supplies
MDR antennas and the MDR digital processor to Boeing. Lockheed Martin
Space Systems Company is the prime contractor and lead systems
integrator for Milstar and the Titan IVB/Centaur launch vehicle.

"The entire Milstar team is extremely proud of the Milstar program's
success and its important contribution to national security over the
past eight years," said Leonard F. Kwiatkowski, vice president,
Lockheed Martin Space & Strategic Missiles in Sunnyvale. "Our
warfighters require rapid, high-volume, secure and dependable
communications to achieve their missions and we look forward to
enhancing that capability with this critical event." 

The satellite will join a ring of four Milstar satellites currently
on orbit .. The spacecraft constellation provides protected, global
communication links for the joint forces of the U.S. military and can
transmit voice, data, and imagery, in addition to offering video
teleconferencing capabilities. Milstar's "switchboard-in-space"
concept allows communications links to be established rapidly,
allowing the networking of satellites together in space and
eliminating the need for ground relay stations. This final Milstar
launch will significantly increase the Milstar constellation's
capability to provide rapid, global coverage for the nation's
strategic forces, Air Force's space warning assets and operationally
deployed military forces.

Of the four operational Milstar satellites encircling the Earth, two
are of the first-generation Block I design, launched in 1994 and
1995. In the post-Cold War era, the system graduated to a new Block
II design and the Air Force transitioned to the Block II
configuration with the first successful launch of the Milstar II
satellite in Feb. 2001. 

The Block II system offers a variety of enhanced communications
features for the U.S. military, including added security through the
use of specially designed antennas and faster data-rate transmissions
for all users. 

Milstar is used for communications among ships, submarines and
land-based Naval stations via Navy Extremely High Frequency Satellite
Communications Program terminals. The system provides communications
networks to Army units via the Secure Mobile Anti-Jam Reliable
Tactical Terminals mounted on vehicles, and to individual troops and
small units from the Single Channel Anti-Jam Man-Portable terminals.
For the Air Force, the Milstar system provides links for Air Force
Command Post Terminals. 

Lockheed Martin is also under contract to develop the Department of
Defense's next generation of highly secure communications satellite
known as the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) system. As
envisioned by the Pentagon, the fully operational Advanced EHF
constellation will consist of four networked satellites providing
coverage of the Earth from 65 degrees north latitude to 65 degrees
south. These satellites will provide more secure data throughput
capability and coverage flexibility to regional and global military
operations than ever before and will be also be backward compatible
with the Milstar I and II system. 

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, headquartered in Denver,
Colo., is one of the major operating units of Lockheed Martin
Corporation. Space Systems designs, develops, tests, manufactures and
operates a variety of advanced technology systems for military, civil
and commercial customers. Chief products include space launch and
ground systems, remote sensing and communications satellites for
commercial and government customers, advanced space observatories and
interplanetary spacecraft, fleet ballistic missiles and missile
defense systems. 

###

NOTE TO EDITORS: For the complete press kit, including program
profiles, images and live video streaming of the launch, please visit
the Milstar News Center.

For more information about Lockheed Martin Space Systems, see our
websites at:

http://lmms.external.lmco.com
http://www.ast.lmco.com

Contact:

Steve Tatum, Lockheed Martin
Pager: (888) 926-2912
Cell: (408) 887-5859
Email: Stephen.o.tatum{at}lmco.com

Ronea Alger Hart, Boeing
Ph: (310) 364-7575
Cell: (310) 567-1381
Email: ronea.hart{at}boeing.com

Jack Prichett, Northrop Grumman
Ph: (310) 812-5227
Cell: (310) 567-5327
Email: jack.prichett{at}trw.com

April
03-05

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