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Lockheed lights rocket team
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May 5, 1999: 5:24 p.m. ET
Aerospace giant seeks review of $4B worth of failed rocket launches
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Aerospace giant Lockheed Martin is calling in an independent panel to review its space operations after a series of rocket and satellite failures caused losses of $4 billion.
Two failed rocket launches last week and another two in the past eight months have forced the aerospace and defense giant to review its whole space operation.
Pete Teets, president and chief operating officer, said in a statement that it was clear "that recent launch vehicle missions have not met their objectives."
"This is unacceptable in a company that takes the concept of performance and quality as seriously as Lockheed Martin does," the statement said. "We and our customers expect Mission Success and we will deliver nothing else."
Lockheed has called on a panel of experts led by retired Martin Marietta President A. Thomas Young to carry out a sweeping review of procedures for launching its giant Titan IV and smaller Athena rockets.
Teets said Young, who was mission director of the 1976 Viking Landing on Mars, "thoroughly understands the demanding processes involved in successfully launching payloads into space and executing developmental programs."
The panel, which will be drawn from people inside and outside of the company, will report its findings to senior management by Sept. 1.
Lockheed had been hit by a range of problems including exploding rockets and satellites which failed to reach their proper orbit.
While the four failed launches have all been for the U.S. military, satellites and rockets are generally not insured.
The losses have impacted Lockheed's competitive position in the fast-growing commercial launch sector where it faces fierce competition from Boeing (BA), Europe's Arianespace and low-cost launch vehicles marketed by Russia and China.
Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin employs more than 165,000 people worldwide and saw sales surpass $26 billion in 1998.
Lockheed Martin (LMT) was up 7/16 to 44-1/8 Wednesday.
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