Paving The Way

Note to style purists: It looks like the term "paveway" with a lowercase "p" is now a generic one for a type of laser-guided bomb.

In a statement issued this morning, Lockheed Martin announced it had won a legal fight against Raytheon, which had filed a trademark claim with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Lockheed submitted an opposition filing in 2005 "in response to Raytheon's request to register the term 'paveway' after Lockheed Martin became a fully qualified supplier of the paveway LGB to the U.S. Air Force, Navy and international customers," according to Lockheed's statement. Further:

"This decision supports Lockheed Martin's goal of delivering competitive, best value solutions to the global market," said Joe Serra, precision guided systems senior manager in Lockheed Martin's Missiles and Fire Control business. "It fully recognizes Lockheed Martin as one of two U.S. Government-qualified sources for paveway II precision guided systems."

The TTAB found that the term has been used in a generic manner by the armament manufacturers, industry press, armament wholesalers and Government purchasers.  The term "paveway" also has been accepted as a generic term in tribunals in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Thailand, and additional cases are pending.

Lockheed Martin began production of paveway II products in 1992 with its laser guided training rounds (LGTR) and followed with paveway II LGB kits and paveway II Dual Mode Laser Guided Bomb (DMLGB) kits for domestic and international customers.  The paveway LGB kits are fully qualified for all three variants of the paveway II MK-80 series of GBU-10, -12 and -16 guidance kits (2,000, 500 and 1,000 lbs, respectively) and have been used successfully in Operation Iraqi Freedom and current overseas contingency operations.

In September 2011, Lockheed Martin received a $100.5 million contract from the U.S. Air Force for production and delivery of the increased precision paveway II Plus LGB GBU-12 guidance kits.  The award represents the majority share of an initial $134 million paveway II Plus LGB procurement, part of an overall $475 million five-year, firm-fixed-price, multiple-award contract announced by the U.S. Air Force on August 1.

As Inside the Air Force reported on that contract in September:

The award accounts for the majority of the initial $134 million Paveway II Plus LGB GBU-12 guidance kits procurement, which is part of a $475 million, five-year, multiple-award contract issued on Aug. 1, according to a Lockheed Martin statement released on Sept. 6. The latest contract provides both hardware and software updates under the indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract, according to Tim O'Donnell, a precision guided systems engineer for Lockheed. Company executives expect to begin delivering the guidance kits in 2012.

The new guidance kits will provide greater accuracy over the legacy Paveway II system, O'Donnell said.

"It is available and ready for use," he said during a Sept. 8 telephone interview with Inside the Air Force. "It is fully compatible with every aircraft and every system that has used the Paveway II legacy system."

The Paveway II plus kits already went through full qualification testing in preparation for the initial $34 million procurement contract Lockheed Martin received last year, O'Donnell said. The company is producing the kits for the Air Force and Navy as part of the contract.

The Air Force completed a force development evaluation program for both the GBU-10 and GBU-12 guidance kits at Eglin Air Force Base, FL, in October 2010. The kits were qualified on both the F-15 Strike Eagle and the F-16 Fighting Falcon.