DTN News: New Zealand Defence Force Awards Lockheed Martin 10-Year Logistics Contract

DTN News: New Zealand Defence Force Awards Lockheed Martin 10-Year Logistics Contract Source: DTN News / Lockheed Martin (NSI News Source Info) ORLANDO, Fla, - March 4, 2010: Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) was awarded an initial 10-year contract valued at more than $100 million by the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) to provide its Army with warehousing and repair services. The NZLAV was procured to replace the aging M113 family of vehicles. The NZLAV provides New Zealand with a world class vehicle capable of providing light armour protection to soldiers on the battle field. The NZLAV is highly mobile, and comes equipped with a lethal arsenal of weapons and systems making it an ideal vehicle for combat, peace and peace support operations. This vehicle is a quantum leap forward in capability for New Zealand and as part of the project, facilities, training, special tooling and spares were provided by the prime contractor, General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada. As an owner, New Zealand joins numerous allies that are operating similar platforms allowing us to maintain and operate the vehicle at a lower cost by creating synergies amongst LAV users. Currently the LAV is fielded with the Canadian Army, US Army, US Marines and the Australian Defence Force. New Zealand purchased 102 Infantry Mobility Vehicles (IMV) variants and 3 Recovery vehicle variants. Additionally, to provide flexibility 7 of the 102 IMV's come equipped with an earth moving blade allowing it to be used for light engineering tasks. The contract allows for syndication with other New Zealand agencies, including New Zealand Police, for which Lockheed Martin could also assume warehousing and facilities maintenance work. The agreement includes the maintenance, repair and overhaul of the organization’s equipment and supply chain services ranging from soldier store acquisition, such as tents and weapons, to warehouse sustainment. The New Zealand Army is composed of 7,500 regular and reserve forces and civilian personnel. Approximately 500 NZDF personnel are deployed on multiple peacekeeping operations, United Nations missions and defence exercises around the world. The Army's fleet of more than 500 vehicles includes NZ Light Armoured Vehicles, Pinzgauer Light Operational Vehicles, Unimogs, and transport, service and supply vehicles. “Our goal is to ensure we provide the best possible supply service in the most cost-effective way,” said Debra Palmer, vice president of enterprise logistics solutions at Lockheed Martin’s Simulation, Training & Support business unit. “We are focused on improving the availability of equipment and supplies to sustain current operations while moving toward improved capabilities in the future.” Lockheed Martin offers similar services to a number of military customers. These include asset management capabilities to the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence through its Joint Asset Management Engineering Solution, a program which will ultimately enable the MoD to manage its land-based equipment throughout all its services by providing an end-to-end logistics management system. In addition, Lockheed Martin supports the U.S. Marine Corps with the Embedded Platform Logistics System, and manages the supply chain for automotive parts for the U.S. military's land-based vehicles with the Fleet Automotive Support Initiative. The contract begins in June 2010 after a transition from the current service providers. Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 140,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation reported 2009 sales of $45.2 billion.