SACRAMENTO, CA, September 3rd, 2002 -- One of the world's most advanced terminal air traffic control systems from Lockheed Martin is in service, helping to manage flight operations in the northern region of California, at the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) newest consolidated terminal radar approach control (TRACON) facility. The Northern California TRACON began operations on August 25, using Lockheed Martin's Common Automated Radar Terminal System (ARTS) for air traffic control. The Northern California TRACON is the 140th Common ARTS installation, and will consolidate air traffic control operations from the Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland, Monterey and Stockton facilities. When fully commissioned, the new TRACON will handle more than two million flight operations annually. The FAA has installed the Common ARTS system at the nation's busiest TRACONs to ensure the continued safe and efficient movement of approximately 14 million flights annually.

The Northern California TRACON handles flight operations for a 21,000-square mile area that stretches from Santa Rosa in the north to Big Sur in the south and is bordered by the Pacific Coast and the Sierra Nevada mountains. The 95,000-square foot facility is home to more than 350 air traffic controllers and technicians and provides flight approach control services to 19 airports in the northern California area.

"We salute the FAA's achievement," said Don Antonucci, president, Lockheed Martin Air Traffic Management. "The FAA professionals in the Western Pacific region successfully met every challenge associated with consolidating five very busy approach control operations into a marvelous new facility. We applaud their fine work and we are equally proud that this installation continues Lockheed Martin's unbroken record of on-time and on-budget performance on Common ARTS."

The Common ARTS system at the Northern California TRACON interfaces with 10 long- and short-range radars, and has 10 times the capacity of older systems it replaces. Common ARTS incorporates advanced computer-human interface techniques developed in collaboration with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association and the Professional Airways Systems Specialists organization, and is installed nationwide at the FAA's most complex air traffic operational facilities.

"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. "Common Arts is a very capable system that has proven its benefits at the busiest FAA terminal facilities. The new full-color, digital presentation and the ability to track multiple sensors simultaneously enables controllers to more efficiently re-route traffic around delay-producing weather systems. And, the FAA's maintenance costs are significantly reduced by replacing 30-year-old automation with a nationwide standard hardware and software platform," said Corcoran.

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.