SYRACUSE, NY, 21-MAR-00 -- Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Sensor Systems (NE&SS-Syracuse) announced today that its Vessel Traffic Management System (VTMS) for the Qiongzhou Channel, which separates Hainan Island from southern mainland China, has been fully accepted by the Chinese government. NE&SS-Syracuse became the first American company to sign a contract for a vessel traffic service system in China when it reached agreement on the $3 million project with the Beijing government in 1997.

The system was formally endorsed on March 3 by a senior-level inspection team from the Chinese Ministry of Communications, though it has been operated by the Hainan Harbor Superintendency Administration since May, 1999. The Administration is responsible under the Ministry of Communications for vessel safety, traffic management and ship reporting systems in this strategic waterway.

The VTMS system includes advanced technology such as integrated data and sensor processing techniques, open architecture commercial hardware and rules-based system software to help manage the safe flow of ship traffic. NE&SS-Syracuse is the prime contractor, program manager and principal integrator for this system, assisted by the 28th Research Institute of the Ministry of Information Industry in China.

NE&SS-Syracuse has a teaming agreement with the 28th Research Institute to jointly pursue contracts to develop, produce and install marine traffic management systems for ports, harbors and waterways in China.

This was the first of what we anticipate will be many more NE&SS-Syracuse vessel traffic management systems for China and Asia, said NE&SS-Syracuse President Mike Smith. We are the world leader in VTMS and are energetically exploring the many opportunities in the region where these systems can help increase ship traffic safety.

A leader in ground-based and airborne radar, surface vessel and submarine electronic warfare, 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.