MOORESTOWN, NJ, December 13th, 1999 -- Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems-Moorestown announced today it has earned the Software Engineering Institute's prestigious Capability Maturity Model (CMM) Level 4 status, following a comprehensive assessment of NE&SS-Moorestown's software engineering processes. The Level 4 designation, awarded by SEI-authorized lead assessor TeraQuest, establishes NE&SS-Moorestown as one of five Lockheed Martin business units to hold the coveted Level 4 rating and one of two units within the Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems business segment to earn that rating. The rating also places NE&SS-Moorestown among the top five percent of U.S. Department of Defense contractors and in the top five percent of companies assessed worldwide

An SEI rating has become a key competitive discriminator in the marketplace and is a requirement for some new business pursuits. Four other Lockheed Martin businesses have earned a Level 5 rating, including two within the NE&SS segment. SEI has established five levels of maturity for software engineering processes, with Level 5 as the top designation.

"Earning a Level 4 rating is a significant and exciting milestone for our business," said Russell E. Frew, Vice President, Advanced Technology, at NE&SS-Moorestown. "It validates our conviction that our processes are operating at a high level, and demonstrates to our customers that they are receiving world-class software products from our business. It illustrates our commitment to build a software engineering center of excellence at NE&SS-Moorestown."

Noting that NE&SS-Moorestown earned an SEI Level 3 rating just last year, Frew added, "Attainment of Level 3 and Level 4 in two consecutive years is an extraordinary achievement and provides us with the momentum to reach for the pinnacle - a Level 5 rating."

SEI is a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) through the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition & Technology. The SEI management contract was competitively awarded to Carnegie Mellon University in 1984. The organization is staffed by technical and administrative professionals from government, industry and academia.

Recognizing the increasingly critical role software played in its systems, the DoD established the Institute to advance the practice of software engineering to ensure software that is produced on schedule, budget and of the highest quality. The SEI mission is to provide leadership in advancing the state of the practice of software engineering in order to improve the quality of systems that depend on software. The SEI accomplishes this mission by promoting the evolution of software engineering from an ad-hoc, labor-intensive activity to a discipline that is well managed and supported by technology.

NE&SS-Moorestown is one of six major operating sites of Lockheed Martin NE&SS. NE&SS provides surface ship and submarine combat systems, antisubmarine warfare and ocean surveillance systems, missile launching systems, radar and sensor systems, ship systems integration services and other advanced systems and services to customers worldwide. It is the largest business organization in the Lockheed Martin Systems Integration business area.