(http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/000919/n19474411.html)

WASHINGTON, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE:LMT - news) beat TRW Inc. (NYSE:TRW - news) for an Air Force contract valued at up to $1.5 billion over 15 years to modernise command systems of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD), aerospace industry officials said Tuesday.

The Pentagon, which had been widely expected to announce the winner at the close of markets, did not do so publicly for reasons that were not immediately clear. But the industry officials said they had been told Lockheed had been selected.

Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin withheld comment, pending an official Defence Department announcement.

``We´re anticipating an official government announcement very shortly,´´ said Judith Gan, a spokeswoman for Lockheed Martin Mission Systems in Gaithersburg, Md.

Cleveland-based TRW had no immediate comment.

The contract entails a giant systems integration job at NORAD'S Cheyenne Mountain complex near Colorado Springs, Colo., the likely nerve centre of any future U.S. national missile defence system.

The Cheyenne Mountain Operations Centre comprises the largest and most complex command and control network in the world. It uses satellites, microwave and fiber-optic links to warn the United States and Canada of any impending attack.

The upgrade will splice some 40 separate air, space and missile-defence command and control systems into an integrated network with new capabilities to handle Space warfare, Lockheed said earlier. The programme will also modernise the command and control systems of the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based U.S. Space Command, the Air Force Space Command and other sites in the United States and abroad.

Lockheed and TRW were selected in February to head the two teams in the final phase of the face-off to build ``the system of systems´´ called Integrated Space Command and Control (ISC2).

The Lockheed team includes Boeing Co. , General Dynamics , GenCorp Aerojet, DynCorp Information Services, Wang Government Services and GTE. Currently, decision makers at Cheyenne Mountain and related locations must use vintage, stand-alone systems to piece together their view of threats. The new system is designed to provide a common, global battlefield picture based on shared, real-time data.