Lockheed hires Cuviello

True to his word, former Army chief information officer Lt. Gen. Peter Cuviello has accepted a top information technology position in industry.

Lockheed Martin Corp. today said it hired Cuviello as vice president of information infrastructure for the company's Mission Systems division in Gaithersburg, Md. The Buffalo, N.Y., native said prior to his July retirement that he wanted to stay in Washington, D.C., and work on Defense programs for industry.

"Pete Cuviello will be invaluable in guiding Lockheed Martin information management activities to support joint, interagency and multinational forces," Terry Drabant, Mission Systems president, said in a statement. "His knowledge of using information for warfighting superiority will help focus our efforts to deliver integrated solutions to the battlefield."

Cuviello's hiring is a coup for Lockheed. The company and General Dynamics Corp.'s C4 Systems division, Taunton, Mass., are vying for the Army $10 billion Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) program.

General Dynamics and Lockheed are developing systems that integrate hardware and software, wireless technologies, and satellites so the Army can transmit voice, video and data information while moving in combat. The service in 2004 will select one of the two competing proposals for the WIN-T project.

Lockheed also is pursuing the airborne portion of the $2 billion Joint Tactical Radio System program. The $500 million contract calls for the creation of a software-defined radio, which operates across the spectrum, to be installed on U.S. military airplanes, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Cuviello is known for streamlining Army IT acquisition funding, starting the popular Army Knowledge Online Web portal and overseeing the first-ever use of the Army Battle Command System in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The former three-star general is the second top U.S. military officer in recent months to accept a position in industry. Army Lt. Gen. Joseph "Keith" Kellogg, the Joint Chiefs of Staff's former director of command, control, communications and computers, was hired July 14 as Oracle Corp's senior vice president of homeland security.