Lockheed Martin
From Sega Retro
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Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company. It was formed in 1995 after a merger between Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta.
A spin-off company from Lockheed Martin, Real3D, specialized in 3D graphics chip technology. Real3D designed graphics chips for the Sega Model 2 and Sega Model 3 arcade systems.
History
It worked closely with Sega to produce components for the Sega Model 2 (under GE Aerospace, which became part of Martin Marietta in 1993) and Sega Model 3 arcade system boards. The company was once at work producing a "Saturn 2" for Sega, though the contract was lated dropped in favour of 3dfx, which was in turn dropped in favour of PowerVR, eventually coming together as the Sega Dreamcast.
Contrary to popular opinion, Lockheed Martin was not involved with the development of the Sega Model 1, but it was developed internally at Sega, before Lockheed Martin became involved with the development of the Sega Model 2, according to Real3D's Jon Lenyo (and former Lockheed Martin employee) in 1998.[1]
In 1995, a spin-off company from Lockheed Martin, Real3D, was formed by the team that worked on the Sega Model 2 rendering chip. By late 1995 or early 1996, Real3D developed the Real3D Pro-1000, a fully featured GPU with T&L capabilities, used in the Sega Model 3. Along with their Sega partnership, Real3D also had a partnership with Mitsubishi, which provided the ALU and graphics memory used by the Real3D Pro-1000.[2]
As an aside, Lockheed Martin's millitary products have featured in F-16 Fighter. Martin Marietta sponsored the Model 2 arcade game, Desert Tank.