Lockheed

Having personally known Kelly and others from the days of Lockheed's real existence, I agree with Joe Morales' letter. We have 90 years service between four persons in this family and rightfully feel that Lockheed no longer exists. MELBA DAVIS, Sylmar

The U.S. Defense Department plans to open more than a dozen rocket launches to competition, moving to end a monopoly held by a Lockheed Martin Corp.-Boeing Co. joint venture. The Air Force is authorized to buy as many as 14 booster cores over the next five years from potential competitors such as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., the Hawthorne company known as SpaceX and headed by billionaire Elon Musk, and Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., wrote Frank Kendall, the Pentagon's top weapons buyer, in a Nov. 27 memo obtained by Bloomberg News.

Re "As a Factory Falls, Memories of What It Means to Have a Job," Sept. 10. I too have many memories about Lockheed. Both of my parents and even one of my grandparents worked there. Two of my brothers and myself worked there as well, making us third-generation. My parents worked in the "Dark World," as the Skunk Works was known. That was because anybody who worked there couldn't talk about what they did. This was during the height of the Cold War and everybody was paranoid about the Russians.

Lockheed Martin Corp., the world's largest defense firm, announced its incoming chief executive resigned after an ethics investigation confirmed he'd had a "close personal relationship" with a subordinate. Christopher E. Kubasik, 51, was set to take the top job of the Bethesda, Md., aerospace giant Jan. 1. Now that role is to be filled by 58-year-old Marillyn A. Hewson, who would become Lockheed's first-ever female CEO. Lockheed's board of directors also named Hewson acting president and chief operating officer in order to fill the jobs that once belonged to Kubasik.

Lockheed Martin Corp., the world's largest defense company, won an order valued at $498.2 million to supply F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan. Lockheed will supply 18 F-16s to Pakistan as part of a foreign military sales program coordinated by the U.S. Air Force, the Pentagon said. The order is part of $5 billion in weapon sales to Pakistan that Congress approved last year. Lockheed's shares fell $1.52, or 1.4%, to $105.26.

Newberry and her supporters should channel a portion of the funds spent on feeding strays to spaying/neutering them. This solution satisfies Newberry's desire to assist the cats and meets Lockheed's objective of controlling the stray population. DONNA AMBROSE Venice

Lockheed's board of directors recently approved a series of senior management appointments, some because of the creation of new positions, others because of retirement decisions by several senior executives. Unfortunately, some news reports suggested that the retirements occurred because of a classified documents investigation at one of our companies. Other stories cited the diversion of two Lockheed-built airplanes to Libya, a matter which we first helped bring to the attention of authorities and in which we are not charged with any wrong-doing.

The FBI selected Lockheed Martin Corp. for a contract worth as much as $1 billion to build a database for fingerprints and other biometric information. The Transportation and Security Solutions division of the Bethesda, Md.-based aerospace giant won the one-year deal valued at about $40 million, but if all nine one-year options are exercised, the contract's value will approach $1 billion.

The Pentagon announced that it awarded a contract worth as much as $7.4 billion to aerospace giant Lockheed Martin Corp. to upgrade the Air Force's problem-plagued fleet of F-22 Raptor fighter jets. The announcement said that the Bethesda, Md., company would "add new capabilities and enhance the performance of the aircraft. " Lockheed referred all questions about the contract to the Air Force, which said it could not provide details about the upgrade announced Friday. The F-22, which costs an estimated $412 million each, is the military's most expensive fighter jet and known to be its most advanced.

Lockheed, which acquired Sanders Associates Inc. for $1.18 billion earlier this year, said it will consolidate Sanders' operations, eliminating 165 administrative jobs. Sanders, a defense electronics concern based in Nashua, N.H., will form the nucleus of Lockheed's new Electronics Group. The restructuring includes consolidating Sanders' corporate office, Federal Systems Group and Component Products Group. The combined operation will be based in Nashua, with Albert B. Wight as president.

The nation's military contractors say they are preparing to shut facilities, tear up supplier contracts and issue pink slips to thousands of aerospace employees to deal with proposed federal budget cuts threatening to hit Pentagon spending. After a decade of heady growth amid the military buildup following Sept. 11, 2001, contractors had already braced themselves for $487 billion in cuts over the next decade. But an additional $500 billion in cuts are now being discussed in Washington.

The gig: Alton D. Romig Jr., 58, is "chief skunk" at Lockheed Martin Corp.'s famed Skunk Works secretive weapons development facility in Palmdale. It's one of the most coveted jobs in aerospace. For more than 70 years, workers at the shadowy site have designed and built the world's most innovative military aircraft, including the U-2 spy plane, SR-71 Blackbird and F-117 stealth fighter. About 2,000 people work on 600 programs at Skunk Works, which got its nickname in 1943 at its original Burbank headquarters that was located next to a manufacturing plant that produced a strong odor.

For the first time, the U.S. military is using a drone to deliver food and supplies to troops in Afghanistan. On Dec. 17, in a 90-minute flight, the Marine Corps deployed a cargo-lifting K-MAX helicopter drone to carry 3,500 pounds of food and supplies to U.S. Marines at Combat Outpost Payne. "We delivered cargo ... that was supposed to be delivered by convoy. Now that convoy has three pallets that it does not have to carry," Maj. Kyle O'Connor, the officer in charge of the squadron's cargo resupply, said in a statement.

The Pentagon announced that it awarded a contract worth as much as $7.4 billion to aerospace giant Lockheed Martin Corp. to upgrade the Air Force's problem-plagued fleet of F-22 Raptor fighter jets. The announcement said that the Bethesda, Md., company would "add new capabilities and enhance the performance of the aircraft. " Lockheed referred all questions about the contract to the Air Force, which said it could not provide details about the upgrade announced Friday. The F-22, which costs an estimated $412 million each, is the military's most expensive fighter jet and known to be its most advanced.

The Marine Corps will deploy its first-ever cargo-lifting drone into a war zone when it sends the K-Max helicopter to Afghanistan next month. The heavy-lift drone chopper, made by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Kaman Aerospace Corp., recently wrapped up a five-day evaluation study in Arizona to prove its cargo-carrying capability in conditions similar to those it would be expected to encounter in Afghanistan. K-Max exceeded the Navy and Marines' requirement to deliver 6,000 pounds of cargo a day. "K-Max has the capability to quickly deliver cargo, thus getting troops off the roads and allowing them to focus on other missions," said Navy Rear Adm. Bill Shannon, division executive officer for unmanned aviation and strike weapons.

The U.S. Air Force's F-22 Raptor fighter jets have been cleared for takeoff after a government safety investigation grounded the entire fleet for more than four months. The Air Force said that all 170 F-22s will be inspected before flight operations resume. The fleet was put out of service May 3 after a dozen incidents since April 2008 in which pilots' oxygen was cut off. It is the latest issue for the F-22, which cost an estimated $412 million each, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office's latest report, and have not been used in combat since entering service in 2005.

Lockheed Martin Corp., the world's largest aerospace company, said Saturday it detected and thwarted "a significant and tenacious attack" on its information systems a week ago. "As a result of the swift and deliberate actions taken to protect the network and increase IT security, our systems remain secure," said Jennifer Whitlow, a Lockheed spokeswoman. "No customer, program or employee personal data has been compromised. " The Department of Homeland Security and the Defense Department have offered to help gauge the scope of the incident involving the defense contractor.