Lockheed Martin

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.

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 "Panel Backs Lockheed as Tollways Collector," July 24: In today's government-contract bidding world it is very different than the old "cost plus" days. If you underbid, you might negotiate to recover your losses, but don't plan on negotiating a profit. As a major defense contractor, Lockheed Martin is well aware of how this works. The government's new bidding system keeps shady operators from low-balling to undercut honest bidders and then coming back to ask for what was the real cost.

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. announced a partnership with TRW Inc. and Telecom Italia, Italy's largest phone company, for the development of its Astrolink venture, a $3.6-billion satellite system that will provide global, broadband multimedia and Internet access. Lockheed Martin will own 46% of Astrolink, investing $400 million, while Cleveland-based TRW and Telecom Italia both will invest $250 million. Lockheed Martin will provide the satellites and the launchers.

A bid to run Los Alamos National Laboratory would be too costly for defense contractor Lockheed Martin, a company spokeswoman said. Lockheed Martin had shown interest in a possible joint bid with the University of California to manage Los Alamos for the Department of Energy. However, it has decided not to bid. Lockheed Martin already manages Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque.

Lockheed Martin, Palmdale, has renewed its lease for a 52,000-square-foot office space at the Sierra Gateway Business Center, according to the Abbey Co., a vertically integrated real estate organization. Terms of the lease were not disclosed.

Lockheed Martin, known worldwide for its jet fighter planes, won a different kind of contract: something that will serve the indigent. Lockheed Martin IMS, a division of the Bethesda, Md.-based industrial giant, said it won a $4-million five-year contract from the District of Columbia to develop a program for computerized distribution of paperless food stamps and other benefits for the poor. Under the program, debit cards would be used to pay for food at terminals in supermarkets. Teaneck, N.J.

Lockheed Martin, the Bethesda, Md.-based aerospace giant, is consolidating the management and administration of its Aircraft Services Co. in Ontario with its Skunk Works operation in Palmdale. Under the move, which began last month and will continue through mid-1996, Skunk Works President Jack Gordon has begun to oversee the aircraft services division.

Lockheed Martin Corp. said it would create a subsidiary to tap the rapidly growing market for satellite-based telecommunications services. The Bethesda, Md., aerospace giant also said it is forming a jointly owned venture with General Electric Co.'s finance unit to launch a satellite system that will offer television and Internet services throughout Asia.

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.

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 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.

Officials have voted to raise parking daily rates at Bob Hope Airport by $1 next year to fund a legal battle against Lockheed Martin Corp. over who should pay for the cleanup of polluted groundwater beneath the airfield. The fee increase is the latest chapter in a long-running dispute between the Burbank airport and Lockheed, which once manufactured military aircraft at the site. Airport officials insist the contamination is the fault of Lockheed alone, but the aircraft manufacturer and the Environmental Protection Agency say the airport is partly responsible and should therefore shoulder a portion of the $108-million cleanup expense.

President Obama's decision last week to scrap a proposed ground-based missile defense system in Europe was bad news for Boeing Co. and other contractors associated with the plan, but it could be a boon for Raytheon Co. and other companies that produce ship-based systems, analysts said. Boeing had been slated to manage the construction and installation of 10 ground-based interceptors in Poland that were part of the Bush administration's original plans. "The losers are clear," said Phil Finnegan of the defense and aerospace research firm Teal Group.