Space Command Deal Lands at Lockheed Martin

By Nick Wakeman, Senior Editor


SEPT. 21 ? Lockheed Martin Corp. has won the high dollar, high prestige Air Force Integrated Space Command and Control contract.


Worth $1.5 billion over 15 years, Lockheed Martin of Bethesda, Md., and its teammates will integrate about 40 systems into a common, interoperable information technology infrastructure. The modernization effort impacts air, missile and space command and control systems.


The program will give commanders at the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the U.S. Space Command a virtual command center, providing a common operational picture of the global battlefield, with real-time data being shared anywhere in the world.


Currently, the Air Force uses a collection of older systems that work individually and are not interoperable.


"ISC2 represents a major leap forward in information superiority to secure our nation's defense," said Robert Coutts, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin's Systems Integration Business.


Lockheed Martin beat out a team led by TRW Inc. of Cleveland. The two were awarded small contracts earlier this year to work on proofs of concept and architecture design.


Lockheed Martin's team includes heavyweights of the defense and IT industry, such as the Boeing Co. of Seattle, and General Dynamics Corp. of Falls Church, Va.


Other teammates include Aerojet of Sacramento, Calif., DynCorp of Reston, Va., Verizon Communications of New York, and Wang Government Services Inc. of McLean, Va.


The team also includes another 26 companies.


A spokeswoman for TRW expressed disappointment that the team did not win the bid.


"We'll know more about the selection specifics after the government debrief and learn more about the areas we can strengthen to help TRW win future bids in the command and control arena," said Janice Lamar of TRW.