Lockheed Martin Vessel Traffic Safety System for Turkish Straits Gains Formal Acceptance
ISTANBUL, TURKEY, 01-JUL-03 -- The Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] Vessel Traffic Management Information System (VTMIS) that will monitor all vessels moving between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea was formally accepted today in a ceremony at the Istanbul control center by Turkey's Under Secretariat for Maritime Affairs. The original contract for the (US)$22.5 million system was signed in April 2000. The Istanbul and Canakkale straits are considered to be among the most challenging waterways in the world to navigate because of the large amount of maritime traffic passing in close proximity to Istanbul, home to 12 million people. The VTMIS will monitor the movement of 50,000 vessels per year using 16 radar sites and sophisticated video, meteorological, hydrographic and navigational sensors. A second control center at Akbas on the Canakkale Straits is separated from the Istanbul center by the 120-mile-long Marmara Sea.
Before this system was installed, observed Kemal Danaci, VTMIS program manager for the Under Secretariat for Maritime Affairs, we had to deploy people all over the waterways who used binoculars and radios to observe the movement of vessel traffic. Now we will have a much greater ability to monitor traffic, anticipate problems and take advisory action when we see potential danger.
This system is designed to give Turkish authorities much greater situational awareness of these critically important waterways, said Mike Smith, president of the Lockheed Martin business in Syracuse, N.Y., where the system was developed. We are pleased to work with our Turkish partners on a project that will dramatically improve safety on some of the world's busiest and most important shipping channels.
Lockheed Martin's Turkish business partners - Netas, Aselsan, and Havelsan - performed key roles as part of the system installation, integration and support.
Lockheed Martin has similar VTMIS technology that it is installing or has installed in 14 countries including the Gulf of Suez in Egypt, the Qiongzhou Channel in China, Bahia Blanca in Argentina, and Athens, Greece. Lockheed Martin also is the VTMIS provider to the United States Coast Guard under its Ports and Waterways Safety System and is currently upgrading the system in New York Harbor.
A leader in the design, development and integration of radar systems, vessel traffic and port safety, simulation and training systems and other complex electronic systems, Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems (NE&SS) - Radar Systems serves a wide range of customers. These include all branches of the U.S. armed services, including the Coast Guard, as well as other agencies within the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Homeland Security and State, and defense and transportation departments of countries on six continents. NE&SS-Radar Systems employs over 3,000 people with facilities in the U.S. and three other countries, and is a unit of Lockheed Martin Corporation.