Lockheed Martin Expands Newtown, Pa., Complex

Lockheed Martin Corp. recently opened the doors to new facilities at its Space Systems Co. operations in Newtown, Pa.

The $24 million expansion project includes an addition to the facility's manufacturing capabilities as well as a conference center.

The new 15,000-square-foot multipurpose Patriot Center will facilitate large-scale meetings such as spacecraft program design reviews, demonstration initiatives and customer events. The new meeting facility accommodates up to 250 people and offers users the ability to subdivide the space into separate meeting rooms as well as enjoy modernized audio visual and information technology equipment, according to Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin.

The 18,800-square-foot high bay addition at the west end of the facility's Product Team Building expands Lockheed Martin's satellite manufacturing capability, housing a near-field antenna range and antenna assembly clean room for manufacturing of GPS components, and a passive inter-modulation chamber to test the frequency bands of all components produced in Newtown.

Lockheed Martin officials, community leaders and customers gathered for a July ribbon-cutting ceremony. Pictured from left to right are: Joe Rickers (Lockheed Martin); Noriko Masuda (SKY Perfect JSAT); Joe Trench (Lockheed Martin); Col. Bernard Gruber (U.S. Air Force); Bob Slegelmilch (Lockheed Martin); Capt. Jack Nicholson (U.S. Navy); S.K. Gupta (Lockheed Martin); Capt. Joseph Dunn (Defense Contract Management Agency); and Joe DeMarzio (Lockheed Martin)."The Patriot Center, named after the brave men and women who serve our nation, will offer full-service conference facilities to our customers and employees," said Delaware Valley Operations Vice President Robert Slegelmilch. "Our satellite high-bay addition will ensure quality manufacturing and testing of all satellite components produced at Newtown, including the next-generation global positioning system, known as GPS III."

Both projects are designed to be certified under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, according to Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin's Newtown facility serves as the headquarters for Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, the U.S. Air Force's GPS III Space Segment program and NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R-Series program.

The facility also builds components, subsystems and systems for all Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. (LMSSC) lines of business, including military satellite communications programs such as the U.S. Air Force's Advanced Extremely High Frequency system and the U.S. Navy's Mobile User Objective System.

The Newtown facility is part of LMSSC, a major operating unit of Lockheed Martin. LMSSC designs and develops, tests, manufactures and operates advanced-technology systems for national security and military, civil government and commercial customers.