SYRACUSE, NY, 08-JUN-00 -- Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems-Syracuse (NE&SS-Syracuse) today announced that its vessel traffic management business has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Transportation as an excellent example of intelligent transportation that also promotes international trade. Lockheed Martin received DOT's Design for Transportation 2000 Honor Award for the lower Mississippi River Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) system that NE&SS-Syracuse has completed for the U.S. Coast Guard. The Design for Transportation Awards are presented once every five years.

The vessel traffic services project was one of 11 honor award winners recognized during a May 16 ceremony at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. The project joined such prestigious company as the Grand Central Terminal restoration in Manhattan, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit program and the Columbia River Gorge Highway State Trail in Oregon.

In a citation from the program, the jury picking the award winners said, The project that most directly addressed the Department of Transportation goal of enhancing international trade and competitiveness is the U.S. Coast Guard Vessel Traffic Services System. It enables ships to safely negotiate the lower Mississippi River in closer proximity to one another. In honoring this project, the jury encourages innovation in 'intelligent transportation.'

The lower Mississippi River VTS and one for the Port of Valdez and nearby Prince William Sound in Alaska are the first two systems completed by NE&SS-Syracuse for the Coast Guard's Ports and Waterways Safety System (PAWSS) project. The VTS system at each port consists of a Vessel Traffic Center (VTC) that receives vessel movement data from the Automatic Identification System (AIS), surveillance sensors, other sources, or directly from vessels. Automatic data processing equipment is used to provide operators with decision-making information.

The lower Mississippi River project is the world's largest AIS-based vessel VTS area, covering more than 270 river miles. On average, 650 ships per month call on its ports, coupled with more than 2,500 monthly barge movements. Forty-three percent of all U.S. grain exports are handled in this area.

NE&SS-Syracuse shares the award, presented by Department of Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, with the Coast Guard Vessel Traffic Services Project Office, SETA Corporation, Ross Engineering Company, MariTel Marine Communications Services and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

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.