Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems (LMCSS) on Thursday announced plans to realign its business structure to reduce overall costs and improve its competitive position in the commercial satellite manufacturing marketplace.

"The action we are taking will enable us to streamline our business infrastructure and internal processes, provide greater value to our customers, and win new business," said Ted Gavrilis, president of Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems.

Under the realignment, Commercial Space Systems will relocate program management, business operations satellite engineering and design, business development and executive functions from Sunnyvale to the company's Newtown, Pa. facility. Newtown currently provides the communications payloads for the A2100 satellite series, as well as secure, protected military communications payloads for the U.S. Government.

The final assembly, integration and testing of the company's A2100 spacecraft will continue to take place in Sunnyvale's state-of-the-art Commercial Satellite Center, one of the largest, most efficient facilities of its type in the industry. The manufacturing of A2100 solar arrays and assembly of certain electronic boxes will also continue in Sunnyvale. This relocation does not affect operations of three commercial satellite programs nearing the completion of their manufacturing cycle in Sunnyvale or the previously announced plan to assemble the A2100 propulsion systems in the Lockheed Martin Propulsion Center of Excellence being built in Stennis, Mississippi.

Gavrilis reaffirmed the company's dedication to mission success: "Our team has achieved an impressive record of mission success over the years, building and launching commercial satellites for customers worldwide," added Gavrilis. "I am confident that this move will improve our position in a highly competitive marketplace and enhance our ability to continue meeting our customers needs."

About 70 employees based in Sunnyvale will be transferred to Newtown. Sunnyvale will continue to support ongoing commercial space production activities at the product centers, the spacecraft operations center and at the Integration and Test facility.

Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems markets, designs and builds geostationary and non-geostationary telecommunications and remote sensing satellites for customers worldwide.

The company builds the A2100 series for direct broadcast, mobile wireless, broadband and fixed service applications. Customers include: Asia Cellular Satellite International, Astrolink International LLC, China Orient Telecomm Satellite Co. Ltd, EchoStar Communications Corporation, GE Americom, Japan Satellite Systems Inc., Korea Telecom, Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications, PT Telkomunikasi (TELKOM), New Skies Satellites N.V., NTT Mobile Communications Inc., Space Communications Corporation and Telesat Canada.

LMCSS is an operating unit of Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, one of the core business areas of the Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT). Lockheed Martin has a 41-year heritage of building reliable spacecraft for commercial and military customers, having launched more than 875 spacecraft and achieving nearly 1,500 years of on-orbit performance experience.