ORLANDO, FL, 09-JUN-05 -- Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has appointed Dale P. Bennett as president of its Orlando-based Simulation, Training & Support business unit. Bennett, who will assume his new position July 5, currently leads the Integrated Coast Guard Systems joint venture responsible for the U.S. Coast Guard's Deepwater modernization program. He succeeds Daniel J. Crowley, who will become executive vice president of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth, TX.

“With wide-ranging experience in engineering, business development, program management and business leadership involving both domestic and international customers, Dale is exceptionally well-qualified to assume responsibility for the Simulation, Training & Support business,” said Robert B. Coutts, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin's Electronics Systems business area. “Dale will build on Dan's efforts to focus his Orlando team on becoming both a leader in mission readiness and a trusted source within Lockheed Martin for military training, simulation and logistics services.”

Bennett joined Lockheed Martin in 1981 as a systems engineer and advanced through a series of diverse assignments prior to the appointment to his current position in December 2003. He successfully led the Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems and Sensors business unit into new markets by leveraging its small-ships skills into the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship program and by applying its Navy launcher experience to secure positions on the U.S. Army's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense and Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System programs. His leadership of the Deepwater program – valued at $20 billion over 22 years – is indicative of his broad experience with programs of critical national importance.

A U.S. Air Force veteran, Bennett received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of South Carolina-Columbia, a master's degree in engineering from The Johns Hopkins University and a master's degree from the Sloane Fellows Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.