majalah militer

July 31st, 2009, Ottawa -- With more than 200 federal, provincial, municipal, and business leaders in attendance, Lockheed Martin Canada [NYSE: LMT] today officially opened its new Maritime Advanced Training and Test Site (MATTS) in the Highfield Industrial Park in Dartmouth, NS. MATTS will support the company’s role as prime contractor for the Combat Systems Integration (CSI) modernization of the Canadian Navy’s Halifax-class frigates.

In April, Lockheed Martin announced that it was expanding its Nova Scotia operation, adding 100 new jobs over five years. The Province of Nova Scotia, through Nova Scotia Business Inc., is supporting this growth with a $1.8 million payroll rebate. As the new permanent home of Lockheed Martin Canada’s Atlantic Operations, the MATTS facility also will allow the company to continue to build on its 25-year legacy as the Navy’s combat systems integrator.

“Lockheed Martin offers the types of career opportunities that students, skilled graduates, and expatriates are demanding,” said Premier Darrell Dexter. “Through NSBI, the province is maximizing the opportunity for Nova Scotians to participate in a long-term, multi-billion-dollar Canadian program with a top defence contractor. This amounts to a generation of work in our province. This is exactly the kind of thing we want to support in Nova Scotia.”

The CSI contract, awarded to Lockheed Martin Canada in 2008, will provide a new command and control system, radars, tactical data links, electronic support measures and other warfare capabilities for the 12 Halifax-class frigates.

The 100,000 square-foot MATTS facility will host critical training systems, simulation and testing labs and a new Technology Collaboration Centre that will provide a near-at-sea environment for Canadian businesses to test and develop solutions to meet the needs of the Canadian Navy. The facility will host land-based testing and simulation of the frigate’s new combat systems prior to installation on each vessel. Additionally, training systems similar to those currently housed at the Canadian Forces base in Stadacona will be installed at the MATTS facility to reflect the new combat system.

"The establishment by Lockheed Martin of the MATTS facility in Dartmouth, close to where our sailors are trained for the Halifax-class, represents a significant capability and efficiency for the Canadian Navy,” said Captain Richard Gravel, deputy project manager for the Halifax-Class Modernization/Frigate Life Extension project. “It is a plus for the navy to have this multi-faceted facility that, beyond training, will also provide for software development, system integration and performance proving with close to at-sea performance. To be able to test systems through actual system operation by leveraging on this location gives us great advantage as we refit the Halifax-Class. This facility once again places Canada’s frigates, and their support, at world-class."

“The opening of this building is not only a critical milestone for the successful, on-time delivery of a modernized Halifax-class frigate, it also establishes a world-class training and simulation facility for the Canadian Navy,” said Tom Digan, Lockheed Martin Canada’s president and general manager.

Lockheed Martin Canada has about 600 employees at facilities in Kanata (head office), Montreal, Halifax, Victoria, Esquimalt, Dartmouth, Valcartier, Petawawa and Wainright in order to provide direct support to its customers.

Lockheed Martin