ARCHBALD — Lockheed Martin has upgraded its principal local product as it branches into development of civilian nuclear power safety controls. Lockheed’s dual-mode, laser-directed bombs were successful in a recent Marine Corps training exercise in Arizona, the company reported. The advance adds GPS/inertial navigation system guidance to standard laser-guided weapons and reduces the potential impact of weather on accuracy. Laser-guidance products have been manufactured at the plant for more than 20 years. “It has the potential for broadening the product line,” said Peter Rosecrans, Ph.D., general manager at the Archbald facility. Lockheed has upgraded more than 7,000 guidance kits to contain the added capability, according to the company. Lockheed’s movement into development of safety mechanisms for nuclear power plants represents a different direction from the plant’s historical orientation toward defense products. “This is brand new,” Dr. Rosecrans said, displaying a prototype circuit card Lockheed is developing in a partnership with China’s State Nuclear Power Automation Systems Engineering Co. “There is more to global security than simply defending ourselves against threats.” Lockheed’s new developments represent achievement in technical transition, said Teri Ooms, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development, a regional research and analysis organization. “They have found something new,” Ms. Ooms said in a phone conversation. “That’s the type of innovation we all hope for. It stabilizes our economy.” Lockheed began investing in nuclear power control equipment development in 2007, said Dr. Rosecrans, a materials engineer with a background in the energy field who became manager at the Archbald plant in March. The device, which is under review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, monitors operating systems in nuclear plants for safety and is built to withstand effects from earthquakes and other sources of power disruption, said Dr. Rosecrans, who worked at Lockheed’s headquarters in Bethesda, Md., before coming to Archbald. In 2013, Lockheed entered an agreement with the Chinese company to help develop controls for reactor protection systems. The company hopes the NRC will qualify the safety system by the end of the year, but commercial application is probably several years off, Dr. Rosecrans said. Hundreds of the printed wiring assemblies could be used in each nuclear plant that employs them, Dr. Rosecrans said. “Much of what we are doing is early,” he said. “We are trying to lead the company into this new marketplace.” The 350,000-square-foot Archbald facility dates to 1951, when Daystrom Inc. began production of instruments and controls for military applications. Lockheed, which took over the facility in 1996 when it acquired Loral Corp.’s defense electronics business, employs 420 people at the plant. Contact the writer: jhaggerty@timesshamrock.com

First Published: August 17, 2014, 4:03 a.m.