Proud to be part of the UK’s most important defence programmes
It’s 30 years since Lockheed Martin won a big helicopter contract from the Royal Navy and established a base in the Portsmouth area. Today the Rotary and Mission Systems division at Havant is involved in projects ranging from radar to postal sorting techn
When the mighty HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier eases out of Portsmouth Harbour in May to begin her maiden global deployment, employees at Lockheed Martin UK in Havant will feel an enormous sense of pride.
Because their hard work behind the scenes has played a vital role in ensuring the helicopters and jets that will be embarked on board the £3.2bn leviathan are ready for action.
Emlyn Taylor, Programme DeliveryDirectorforthe company’s Rotary and Mission Systems (RMS) division, says: ‘When the carrier sails, the Merlin
Mk2 helicopter and the F-35 Lightning II fast jet will play a significant part in Carrier Strike Group 21.’
CSG 21 is a task force led by HMS Queen Elizabeth that is being readied to deploy to the Indo-Pacific.
It was back in 1991 when Lockheed Martin (then
IBM Federal Systems) was awarded the contract to deliver 44 Merlin Mk1 helicopters to the Royal Navy and established a base here – although by then the company had already operated in this country for nearly 50 years.
EXCITING TIME
At the time, it was the UK’s largest-ever and most sophisticated systems integration project undertaken for the Ministry of Defence.
Fast forward 30 years and the Merlin programme still plays an integral part in Lockheed Martin UK’s business.
In 2017, the company was awarded a £269m contract to deliver the Royal Navy’s Crowsnest Airborne Surveillance and Control programme, which is integrated into the Merlin Mk2 helicopter.
As the prime contractor,
Lockheed Martin UK is responsible for the overall design and development of Crowsnest, which will provide a vital surveillance capability to support both the new Queen Elizabeth Class carriers.
Emlyn explains: ‘The carriers are strategic assets for this country, but they are also a big target if someone wants to come after you, so they need to be adequately protected.’
Paul Livingston, vice president and group managing director of
RMS, adds: ‘It is commonly quoted that we have the best anti-submarine warfare helicopters on the planet.
‘Crowsnest is a radar system that can be fitted to a Merlin Mk2 helicopter with the aim of being the eyes and ears of a carrier.’
The team at Havant also directly contributes to and supports the Lightning Enterprise at RAF Marham.
Emlyn says: ‘We stand by to help ensure the jets are fit to fly and ready to be used.’
Both the jets and the helicopter-borne surveillance and intelligence provided by Crowsnest are seen as integral to the UK’s Carrier Enabled Power Projection (CEPP) capabilities.
CEPP will allow greater flexibility in responding to conflicts, engaging with allies and supporting humanitarian relief efforts around the world.
Lockheed Martin UK is this country’s arm of the global aerospace and security company the Lockheed Martin Corporation, which has its headquarters in the USA. It employs approximately 1,800 people at more than 20 sites across the country.
The RMS division is based at Langstone Technology Park in Havant and plays a central role in delivering and maintaining capability for the Royal Navy and the other armed forces.
Paul says: ‘We massively value our relationship with the Royal Navy and are very proud of the connection. Portsmouth’s maritime heritage means there is nowhere else quite like it.
‘That’s why the company has a base at Havant, because we are part of the ecosystem that helps to support the navy.’
Emlyn says: ‘Our people have a real sense of purpose. They’re not just writing software. When they see those in our armed forces doing extraordinary things for the country, it motivates them.
‘If a mission requires it, they will work overtime and weekends. I don’t need to ask them.’
Paul adds: ‘A good percentage are veterans who have an affinity with the armed forces. But no matter what their background, our people are proud to work on projects that are of great national significance.’
But defence is just one part of the business locally. As well as logistics and support, navigation and radar systems and running military training programmes, RMS is also involved in technology integration for postal services around the world.
This ranges from sortation and machine learning to automation – transforming operations and improving efficiency and competitiveness during the rise of e-commerce-based mail volumes.
Emlyn says: ‘Back in
2000 the Royal Mail had 60 million envelopes a day to deal with and a system that hadn’t changed for hundreds of years. They had to find a way to automate the process.
‘It looked like an impossible challenge, but we created software that could read addresses and stamps - things humans take for granted - in real time and with great accuracy.’
One advantage that Lockheed Martin UK has over other local defence contractors is the unique ability to draw upon the wider corporation for proven technologies that can be further developed and managed in the UK.
Integration also means it has a very flexible workforce. Paul, who next month becomes chief executive of the whole company in this country, explains: ‘All our engineers are effectively in one big pool.
‘With all the IT tools we have and remote working,