Changing of the guard at Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth

By Bob Cox

rcox@star-telegram.com

One of Lockheed Martin's rising stars, Larry Lawson, was named Thursday to take over as executive vice president and head of the Fort Worth-based Aeronautics division.

Lawson will succeed Ralph Heath, a 37-year veteran of the company and its predecessor, General Dynamics.

Heath, 63, will retire April 1 after seven years in charge of the division, which is Lockheed's second-largest and second-most-profitable.

The moves continue a trend at Lockheed in which many new senior managers are coming up through the corporate ranks, not primarily from the aircraft business.

Lawson, 53, has been in Fort Worth since May 2010 as executive vice president and general manager of the F-35 program, overseeing the development, manufacturing and testing of the joint strike fighter.

He was assigned that position after earning plaudits for accelerating production of the F-22 at Lockheed's Marietta, Ga., plant beginning in 2005. Earlier, he spent time in missile systems and other businesses.

Lawson's promotion means that the Aeronautics business "could not be in better hands," Lockheed CEO Robert Stevens said during a conference call with investment analysts. "Larry brings a proven track record of success in all that he has done."

Lawson's top priority will undoubtedly continue to be the F-35 program, which remains under great scrutiny from the Defense Department and Congress because of continuing delays in development and production, as well as higher costs, as the defense budget tightens.

Lawson, Stevens said, has had a major impact on improving the F-35 program and has "assembled a strong team" to improve production and quality and cut costs.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta outlined the 2013 defense budget Thursday and confirmed that the Pentagon will buy fewer F-35s in the coming years to devote more resources to development and testing and to the correction of technical problems.

Replacing Lawson as head of the F-35 program is Orlando Carvalho, who came to Fort Worth last summer as vice president and deputy of the F-35 program after 30 years in other Lockheed businesses.

Carvalho's "experience in complex systems and organizational leadership equip him well for the demands of the F-35," Stevens said.

Filling Carvalho's position will be Lorraine Martin, vice president of the C-130 program in Marietta. George Shultz, vice president of aircraft modernization programs, will take her place.

Stevens praised Heath's work as head of the Aeronautics division, which he took over in January 2005.

"I've worked with Ralph for a long time and found him to be an exceptional executive in every respect," Stevens said. "He has been dedicated and professional in every assignment and has set the standard for ethics in business conduct."

As the division's president, Heath focused on increasing diversity in the managerial ranks, pushing to promote women and minorities.

He has been active in community initiatives aimed at improving education and job opportunities for minorities and has given them Lockheed's backing.

Heath also worked to maintain good relations with union leaders and pushed to value employee creativity.

He once said he wanted his conservative Fort Worth engineering staff to think more "out of the box" like their counterparts at Lockheed's Skunk Works in Palmdale, Calif., the super-secretive project arm of the company that he also oversaw.

Heath joined Lockheed in 1975 as a design engineer on the F-16 program and rose through the managerial ranks.

He is also credited with helping turn around the F-22 program, which he oversaw during its latter development stages.

Lockheed also reported Thursday that last year's fourth-quarter profits fell 29 percent from a year earlier as three of its four business divisions recorded lower sales.

The giant defense contractor reported a quarterly profit of $683 million, or $2.09 a share, compared with $961 million, or $2.67 a share, a year earlier.

Sales in the quarter were $12.2 billion, down from $12.8 billion.

Operating profit for the Aeronautics division increased 10 percent to $461 million and sales grew less than 1 percent, to $3.9 billion. The division had full-year sales of $14.4 billion and an operating profit of $1.6 billion, both sizable increases over 2010.

Bob Cox, 817-390-7723

Twitter: @bobcoxict

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