The last
in a series of 14 Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) spacecraft
built by Lockheed Martin for the U.S. Air Force has been shipped to
Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla., where it will be readied for a scheduled
launch in July 2003.

The satellite, designated DSCS III B6 is a super high-frequency (SHF)
communications satellite that features Service Life Enhancement Program (SLEP)
upgrades designed to provide improved uninterrupted secure voice and high data
rate communications to its Department of Defense users. Additional SLEP
upgrades on B6 will provide increased downlink power and improved connectivity
to its antennas.

This satellite will join the 13 other DSCS satellites on-orbit, including
DSCS A3, which was launched successfully on March 10, 2003, and is currently
performing nominally while the U.S. Air Force/Lockheed Martin team conducts
on-orbit testing of all spacecraft systems before turning it over for
operations.

“Lockheed Martin is very proud of this historic program milestone,” said
Leonard F. Kwiatkowski, vice president, Lockheed Martin Space & Strategic
Missiles in Sunnyvale. “DSCS has provided the Department of Defense with its
core communications capability for over 21 years and will continue to make a
significant contribution to our national security well into the future.”

Each DSCS III satellite has a design life of 10-years, although several of
the DSCS satellites on-orbit today have far exceeded their design life
expectancy and continue to perform with outstanding results. Last year, the
first DSCS III satellite, A1, reached 20 years on orbit. DSCS III A1 was
launched on Oct. 30, 1982 aboard a Titan 34D launch vehicle from
Cape Canaveral.

From the time the first DSCS III satellite was launched to today, the DSCS
III satellite, also known as the “workhorse of the U.S. Military’s SHF
communications satellite network,” has provided secure and reliable
communications to soldiers, sailors and airmen around the globe.

Space & Strategic Missiles is part of Lockheed Martin Space Systems
Company, headquartered in Denver, Colo., one of the major operating units of
Lockheed Martin Corporation. Space Systems designs, develops, tests,
manufactures and operates a variety of advanced technology systems for
military, civil and commercial customers. Chief products include space launch
and ground systems, remote sensing and communications satellites for
commercial and government customers, advanced space observatories and
interplanetary spacecraft, fleet ballistic missiles and missile defense
systems.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a highly diversified
global enterprise principally engaged in the research, design, development,
manufacture and integration of advanced-technology systems, products and
services. The Corporation’s core businesses span space and
telecommunications, electronics, information and services, aeronautics, energy
and systems integration.

For more information about Lockheed Martin Space & Strategic
Missiles-Sunnyvale, see our website at http://lmms.external.lmco.com .

CONTACT: Steve Tatum of Lockheed Martin Space & Strategic Missiles, Cell,
+1-408-887-5859, or Pager, +1-888-926-2912, or Stephen.o.tatum@lmco.com.