AS&E Announces Anticipated First Quarter FY `00 Results.

BILLERICA, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 20, 1999--

American Science & Engineering, Inc.(R) today announced that it expects its earnings and revenues for the first quarter of fiscal year 2000 to be below those of the fourth quarter of FY 1999.

Ralph Sheridan, CEO and President stated, "Consistent with views we have expressed earlier this year, the first half of FY '00 is a period of consolidating previous gains, laying the groundwork for what we expect will be an excellent second half, and aggressively protecting our intellectual property assets. While we anticipate that revenues will be up solidly over the year ago period, they will probably be slightly lower than the most recent quarter.

"As we have previously reported, we are taking an extremely proactive approach to the two related lawsuits we have filed against a competitor and a customer to prevent their improper use of our valuable intellectual property. This strategy has resulted in the `front-end loading' of legal costs at the expense of short-term profitability. We will be profitable in the first quarter, but the unplanned legal costs will reduce the quarter's bottom line. The results of the first stage of the litigation are still pending, and we do not expect to incur similar expenses in the second quarter. Absent those expenditures, we believe that we would have met our budgeted profitability goal for the quarter.

"Our longstanding policy of aggressively protecting our intellectual property assets, developed at great cost over many years, is a backbone of this Company's success. We are confident that over the medium and long term, this strategy will pay significant dividends to our shareholders."

The Company expects to announce its first quarter results during the week of July 26, 1999.

AS&E(R) develops and manufactures sophisticated X-ray inspection products for critical detection and security applications. AS&E's patented Z(R) Backscatter technology detects plastic explosives, illegal drugs, and other contraband, even when artfully concealed in complex backgrounds by terrorists and smugglers. For more information on AS&E products and technologies, please visit the Company's web site at http://www.as-e.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

The foregoing press release contains statements concerning the Company's financial performance and business operations which may be considered "forward-looking" under applicable securities laws.

The Company wishes to caution readers of this press release that actual results might differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements.

Factors which might cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statement contained herein include the following: significant reductions or delays in procurements of the Company's systems by the United States and other governments; disruption in the supply of any sole-source component incorporated into the Company's products (of which there are several); litigation seeking to restrict the use of intellectual property used by the Company; potential product liability claims against the Company; global political trends and events which affect public perception of the threat presented by drugs, explosives and other contraband; global economic developments and the ability of governments and private organizations to fund purchases of the Company's products to address such threats; and the potential insufficiency of Company resources, including human resources, capital, plant and equipment and management systems, to accommodate any future growth. These and certain other factors which might cause actual results to differ materially from those projected are more fully set forth under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-3 (SEC File No. 333-9151).