ST. LOUIS, MO, June 3rd, 2002 -- The world's most advanced air traffic control system for terminal operations is in service, here in the heartland, at one of the nation's busiest hub airports. Lockheed Martin announced today that its Common Automated Radar Terminal System (ARTS) is operational and handling flights at the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) new state-of-the-art air traffic control facility in St. Louis - the 139th consecutive Common ARTS installation completed on time and on budget. The new St. Louis Gateway Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility was commissioned April 28. The FAA is installing Lockheed Martin's Common ARTS system in some of the nation's busiest terminal approach control facilities to ensure the continued safe and efficient movement of approximately 14 million flights annually.

"We salute the FAA's achievement," said Don Antonucci, president, Lockheed Martin Air Traffic Management, which was selected by the FAA for the terminal automation and display modernization at the new St. Louis facility. "The FAA professionals in the Central Region transitioned operations at one of the busiest hubs from the Lambert-St. Louis International Airport TRACON to the new Gateway TRACON without any degradation in air traffic control systems or services. We applaud their fine work and we're equally proud that this installation continues Lockheed Martin's unbroken record of on-time and on-budget performance on Common ARTS."

The new Gateway TRACON, located in St. Charles, Mo., will control more than 600,000 flight operations annually in the St. Louis metropolitan area. The Gateway TRACON provides air traffic control services to five control towers, including Lambert International Airport.

The Common ARTS system is a triple-redundant commercial, off-the-shelf primary system with a dual-redundant emergency backup. The new system has 10 times the capacity of the 30-year-old ARTS IIIA system employed at the former St. Louis TRACON.

Common ARTS incorporates advanced computer-human interface techniques developed in collaboration with the FAA and is installed at 138 other facilities across the nation. Common ARTS is also being installed at the new Northern California and Potomac, Virginia TRACONs, and scheduled for operation later this year.

"This is a product that meets every demand placed upon it," says Sue Corcoran, vice president of North American Programs for Lockheed Martin Air Traffic management. "It's easily upgraded, shares common hardware architecture and employs an open system design. It has all the features the FAA needs to meet the requirements of today's air space system and it provides a platform for the agency's implementation of its latest modernization initiative, 'Free Flight.'"

Lockheed Martin Air Traffic Management has four decades' experience in delivering advanced air traffic management solutions to customers worldwide, and focuses on systems integration, engineering design, development, test, delivery and support of Communications, Navigation, Surveillance (CNS/ATM) systems. A registered ISO 9001 company, Air Traffic Management employs approximately 1,300 people at major facilities in Rockville, Md., Atlantic City, N.J., Eagan, Minn., and Southampton, England.