SYRACUSE, NY, 27-APR-00 -- Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems-Syracuse (NE&SS-Syracuse) today announced that it has signed a contract valued at $55 million from the government of Romania to design and implement an integrated weather radar system. The National Integrated Meteorological System, or SIMIN, will replace aging weather forecasting equipment and integrate modern environmental and meteorological sensors with ground-based radars and weather satellites. Romania not only endures some of the most extreme weather conditions in Central and Eastern Europe, but also faces a challenge in communicating weather conditions within the country since the nation is bisected by the Carpathian Mountains. SIMIN will enhance Romania's real-time capability to detect, monitor and forecast weather phenomena, and also help the exchange of weather data regionally, throughout Europe and globally.

Administered by the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH), the weather system will be linked to a central operations facility, six regional forecast centers and 10 primary subscriber locations. Initially, all the subscribers will be government-related but once the system is operational, NIMH will be able to sell the forecasting information to commercial companies, such as television stations.

As the prime contractor for the project, NE&SS-Syracuse will design the system, complete the final assembly of its long-range Doppler S-band radars, manufacture wind profiler radars, procure commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) sensors and forecaster processing equipment, install and test the system and provide systems engineering, management, and marketing assistance services to make SIMIN operational.

This system will give Romania modern weather forecasting technology and make it a focal point for regional weather forecasting, said NE&SS-Syracuse President Michael Smith. It also will directly contribute to an improved quality of life for the Romanian people.

SIMIN will be brought on line incrementally to provide weather detection and prediction capabilities as early as possible. The system will become fully operational in late 2002.

A leader in ground-based and airborne radar, surface vessel and submarine electronic warfare, ASW systems and sensors, minehunting systems and vessel traffic management, Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems-Syracuse serves customers including all branches of the U.S. armed forces, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Transportation and State, and defense and transportation departments of countries on six continents. NE&SS-Syracuse employs approximately 2,000 people at its Syracuse, N.Y., headquarters and is a unit of Lockheed Martin Corporation.