Air Force acts on contract option to order 34 more Unit Training Device simulators.

ARLINGTON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 18, 1995--Hughes Training Inc. Monday announced that the U.S. Air Force has ordered an additional 34 low-cost, high-fidelity F-16 simulators in five different block configurations following a contract modification to the existing Unit Training Device (UTD) program.

Various Air Force and Air National Guard bases will receive these 34 simulators during 1996.

The UTD contract option, which totals approximately $21.8 million, was awarded by the Air Force's Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The option calls for Hughes Training to build 12 F-16 Block 25, four F-16 Block 30, 11 F-16 Block 40 with LANTIRN, two F-16 Block 42 and five F-16 Block 50 simulators.

This most recent contract option has grown the UTD program, which originally was awarded to Hughes Training in 1993, to 56 F-16 simulators and two F-15 trainers.

Overall program value now stands at approximately $58.3 million. If the Air Force exercises all program options, Hughes Training will deliver a total of 97 UTD simulators designed to provide new student, transition and continuation training for Combat Air Force F-15 and F-16 fighter pilots at squadron locations.

"We appreciate the confidence the Air Force is showing in our design and performance by ordering these additional UTD simulators," said Stuart I. Moore, president of Hughes Training. "The future of aircraft simulation is embodied by what we're doing on the UTD program, which offers new technology approaches that enables scalable simulator solutions to support a wide range of training requirements and platforms in the future."

UTD simulators, the first of which will be delivered in the latter part of this year, will enable pilots to hone their skills in emergency procedures, flight instrumentation and all elements of air-to-air and air-to-ground combat, to include target detection and tactical maneuvering.

Pilots also will be able to practice acquiring and identifying targets and accurately delivering weapons in adverse weather conditions at day or night.

In addition, these low-cost, high fidelity trainers will enable pilots to enhance their skills in defeating hostile technology, such as electronic jamming and countermeasures.

UTD simulators do not employ a motion system, which enables them to be easily transported and operated within a standard office environment. Each simulator's high resolution out-the-window visual system is displayed on a 60-degree vertical by 78-degree horizontal flat screen and presents all the cues necessary for fighter pilots to train within a realistic tactical environment.

The UTD's Virtual Dome System, developed by Hughes Training's teammate Eidetics Inc., also marks the first time that non-dome simulators can support full envelope tactical maneuvering.

The display system provides pilots with critical visual icons -- including an aircraft's relative position, orientation and closure -- when friendly or threat aircraft that are within visual range go beyond the display system's field of view. This feature enables pilots to have a 360-degree situational representation of a battle.

In a major cost-reduction maneuver, Hughes Training also is integrating each UTD simulator with one Silicon Graphics Inc.'s Onyx Reality Engine image generator. This will enable a single computer to support both out-the-window visual scenes and simultaneously drive computer host functions.

The earnings of Hughes Electronics Corp. are used to calculate the earnings per share attributable to GMH (NYSE symbol) common stock.

CONTACT: Hughes Training Inc., Arlington

Rick Oyler, 817/695-3536