Benthos Assists in China Airlines Black Box Recovery.

Business/Technology Editors

NORTH FALMOUTH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 21, 2002

BENTHOS, INC. (NASDAQ:BTHS) announced today that one of its Pinger Receivers was successfully used to find and recover the two 'black box' recorders from a China Airlines plane that broke up over the Taiwan Strait in May with the loss of all 225 on board.

Benthos provided American Underwater Search & Survey (AUSS) of Cataumet, Massachusetts - who had contracted with the Taiwanese government to locate the recorders - with a Benthos DPL-275 Pinger Receiver, its most advanced system for locating and tracking underwater pingers. Benthos is one of only two Federal Aviation Administration-approved suppliers of Emergency Locator Beacons and is also a maker of the receivers used to find them. These beacons or 'pingers' are mounted to the black boxes and are triggered when they are immersed in water. They emit a continuous signal for a minimum of 30 days.

With Benthos equipment in hand, Arnold Carr of AUSS arrived on the crash scene and, shortly thereafter, the cockpit voice recorder was located and recovered using the DPL-275. Later that day, the flight data recorder was retrieved in the same fashion.

Benthos Pinger Receivers have now been used to find four recorders from two commercial aircraft lost recently in Asian waters. Earlier in May, AUSS utilized the same technology to retrieve the black boxes from a China Northern Airlines plane that crashed off mainland China with the loss of all aboard. The causes of both accidents have yet to be determined and investigators hope to gain some information from the black box recorders. The flight data recorder box logs flight information while the cockpit voice recorder details conversations between pilots and air traffic controllers.

Benthos, Inc., through its Undersea Systems Division, designs, manufactures, sells and services a variety of oceanographic products for underwater tasks; and through its TapTone Package Inspection Systems Division makes systems for testing consumer packages made of glass, metal or plastic. The common stock of the Company is traded on the Nasdaq SmallCap market under the symbol BTHS. For more information, Benthos can be found on the Internet at www.benthos.com.

Forward Looking Statements

The statements in this news release and in oral statements which may be made by representatives of the Company relating to plans, strategies, economic performance and trends and other statements that are not descriptions of historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal Securities Laws. Forward-looking information is inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors which include: the timing of large project orders, competitive factors, shifts in customer demand, government spending, economic cycles, availability of financing as well as the factors described in this news release. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results or outcomes may vary materially from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated, expected or intended.