Lockheed Martin has now secured a place in the two rival teams to build Britain's next large aircraft carriers. These 50,000-ton ships will enter service in 2012 and 2015. Rival bidders are British Aerospace and Thales. Lockheed will work with both to handle "ship/air interface issues" as it has expertise in this field. The British government is said to welcome the move and may have even pressured the two teams into both signing up Lockheed Martin. The challenge will be for both to prepare their bids in secret when Lockheed Martin will know critical details about both.Stephen V Cole