ORLANDO, FL, 22-MAY-01 --

At the conclusion of a successful Board of Directors meeting last week in Berlin, MEADS International announced Joel Strickland of Lockheed Martin as its new president. Since the creation of MEADS International in 1996, Strickland has held primary responsibility for integration of technology for the Medium Extended Air Defense System and has served as the company's executive vice president for the past 3 years.

In line with the company's charter agreement, the announcement marks a rotation to an American president after 36 months of German leadership. The change positions MEADS International to begin the MEADS Risk Reduction Effort (RRE) contract with its senior management team in place.

Strickland succeeds Dr. Jurgen Ebmeyer, who returned to Germany. Before serving as MEADS International's executive vice president, Strickland was MEADS International director of Systems Engineering & Integration. He brings extensive experience in the area of land-based air and missile defense at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, including 10 years as Director of Programs directing research and development activity in these areas. His prior engineering experience includes several advanced missiles, including Ground Based Interceptor and several earlier strategic defense systems.

Succeeding Strickland as executive vice president of MEADS International is Klaus Riedel of EADS/LFK. Riedel, a Member of the Board of European Aeronautic Defence and Space and Lenkflugkörpersystem (EADS/LFK), was previously vice president for Air Defence at the company in Munich. He brings to his new assignment an extensive military and business experience focused on air and missile defense and electronic warfare, including Roland and antitank munitions.

In a related action, to satisfy the MEADS International charter agreement, the Board of Directors rotated the position of Chairman of the Board to Horst Binder, from EADS/LFK in Munich, Germany. With this appointment, Binder initiates his second term as Chairman. As program manager responsible for the EADS/LFK workshare of the MEADS program, he brings to his assignment extensive business experience focused on air and missile defense, NATO command and control, and radar systems. He succeeds Don Lionetti, vice president of Air and Missile Defense at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control in Orlando, Fla., who served a 3-year term as Chairman.

In announcing the management transitions, Binder said, We recognize the role of the MEADS program as the model for successful transatlantic defense cooperation. Through these leadership changes, which were outlined during the formation of our company 5 years ago, we again demonstrate that this cooperation is working at the highest level, and we expect to show the benefits of shared technology development to make MEADS uniquely cost-effective for each of the participating countries.

The selection of Messrs. Strickland and Riedel also shows the level of commitment that our parent companies are making toward success of the RRE program. Both of these leaders have unique talents and technical experience that will sharply focus our risk reduction team on demonstrable results, he said.

MEADS is a mobile air defense system designed to replace Patriot systems in the United States, Hawk systems in Germany, and Nike systems in Italy. MEADS incorporates the proven hit-to-kill PAC-3 missile in a system that includes surveillance and fire control sensors, battle management/communication centers, and high firepower launchers. The system will combine superior battlefield protection with unprecedented flexibility, allowing it to protect maneuver forces and to provide homeland defense against tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and aircraft.

MEADS will provide capabilities unlike any other fielded or planned air and missile defense system. It is easily deployed to a theater of operations and, once there, can keep pace with fast-moving maneuver forces. When completed, MEADS will be the only air defense system able to roll off transports with the troops and immediately begin operations. More importantly, its open architecture will establish the pattern for subsequent 21st century air defense systems and enable air defense asset allocation to be mission-tailored for homeland defense or defense of maneuver forces. MEADS also provides greater firepower with less manpower than current systems, producing dramatic savings in operation and support costs.

In 1999, MEADS International, Inc., was selected by the NATO MEADS Management Agency (NAMEADSMA), a chartered organization of NATO, to develop MEADS.

A multinational joint venture headquartered in Orlando, Fla., MEADS International's participating companies are Alenia Marconi Systems, Spa, in Italy, European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS Deutschland GmbH - formerly DASA) and Lenkflugkörpersystem (LFK, a subsidiary) in Germany, and Lockheed Martin in the United States. Together, these companies have staffed an international engineering team to develop systems and technologies for the MEADS program, which continues to be a model for collaborative transatlantic efforts.