The US Justice Department has intervened in a whistle-blower lawsuit accusing Lockheed Martin Corp. of deliberately inflating a contract for infrared targeting systems for military jets.
A former Lockheed Martin employee, Albert D. Campbell, filed the lawsuit in Orlando, Fla., in 1995, accusing the firm of falsifying documents, of double billing and of inflating costs related to the Air Force Lantirn program that provided nighttime, low-altitude flying and missile accuracy.

In all, the lawsuit claims that Lockheed Martin overcharged the government $147 million on the contract. Among other accusations, the lawsuit says that the company's contract proposal included a $40 million reserve to create additional profit that would offset overruns on another Air Force contract.

In December 2000, Lockheed Martin's quarterly report stated that the company and a number of current and former employees had been subpoenaed to appear before a Florida grand jury investigating the fraud allegations.