Sanders Receives COBLU Production Contract.

Business/Technology Editors

NASHUA, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 29, 2000

Sanders, a Lockheed Martin Company, has received a contract from the U.S. Navy for full rate production of Cooperative OUTBOARD Logistics Update (COBLU) systems. COBLU is an upgrade of the SSQ-108 OUTBOARD countermeasures detection and analysis system currently deployed on U.S. and British Royal Navy ships.

Under the contract, Sanders will provide up to 35 COBLU systems as well as spares, installation and training support. Total value of the contract, including options, could exceed $250 million. Deliveries for the base year award of six systems will begin in late 2001. Additional options for the balance of the systems could be awarded each year until 2005.

In August 1995, Sanders received a $26 million engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) contract from the Navy, and in May 1999 received an additional $46 million to build five low-rate initial production COBLU systems. COBLU successfully completed the Navy's operational evaluation (OPEVAL) in December 1999, resulting in a Milestone III decision, a requirement for a full rate production award contract.

Sanders has been supplying the OUTBOARD system to the U.S. and Royal Navies for more than 25 years. OUTBOARD is a shipboard radio signal detection, acquisition, data management and direction finding system which provides over-the-horizon, early warning and targeting of surface ships. The enhanced COBLU system features advanced methods of detecting, sorting and tracking hostile emitters to provide intelligence indication and warning.

Wes West, Sanders' Vice President and General Manager for Information Dominance Systems, said COBLU provides both Navies with "unprecedented protection for its surface fleet and Sanders is pleased to be supporting this critical requirement."

Sanders is an operating company of the Lockheed Martin Corporation, and a major producer of aircraft self-protection systems and tactical surveillance and intelligence systems for all branches of the armed forces. Other major business areas include microwave, mission and space electronics; infrared imaging; and automated mission planning systems. Lockheed Martin, headquartered in Bethesda, Md., 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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