Hughes Training awarded production contract for fire support combined arms trainer program.

ARLINGTON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 5, 1997--Hughes Training Inc. Thursday announced it has been awarded a $17.3 million fixed-price contract for the first year production phase of the U.S. Army's Fire Support Combined Arms Tactical Trainer (FSCATT) program.

The FSCATT program will provide the Army's active and reserve field artillery forces in the United States and overseas with a training system that enables soldiers to hone their gunnery skills. Field artillery gunnery teams -- including cannon crewmen, fire direction specialists and fire support specialists -- will be trained individually and as a team on execution of indirect fire mission operations.

The production phase contract, which is with the Army's Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command in Orlando, Fla., calls for Hughes Training to deliver howitzer crew trainers, howitzer strap-on trainers, collective training control subsystems and howitzer strap-on trainer instructor/operator stations over the next 12 months. In addition, Hughes Training is providing software updates to the currently fielded GUARDFIST II forward observer trainers so they can become interoperable with the FSCATT training system.

The 16 M109A5 howitzer crew trainers Hughes Training will deliver under this production contract will be fully integrated with an array of sensors to monitor individual and crew performance. The sensors will measure direction and elevation settings on the fire control instruments and monitor projectile selection, fuze selection and setting, propellant selection and orientation and ramming and firing procedures.

In the production phase, Hughes Training also will deliver 48 M119 howitzer strap-on trainers, 16 M198 howitzer strap-on trainers and 20 M109A5 howitzer strap-on trainers. The howitzer strap-on trainers are attached by soldiers to actual operational howitzers in the field to support training exercises. These strap-on trainers will include 33 instructor/operator stations.

The 24 collective training control subsystems will train the fire direction specialists and allow elements of FSCATT to be networked for team training exercises.

This FSCATT production contract, which is the first of five one-year options the Army has planned, follows a $16.3 million award Hughes Training received in 1995 for the programs initial engineering, manufacturing and development phase.

"We're proud of the fact that the FSCATT training system is the Army's only Defense Acquisition Pilot Program and is proving that acquisition reform and streamlining works," said Stuart Moore, Hughes Training's president. "By working together closely on joint integrated product and process teams, Hughes Training and the Army have developed a robust FSCATT training system that will enable training to be conducted without incurring the costly use of actual ammunition or operation and maintenance of tactical equipment."

Hughes Training's FSCATT production team members include United Defense Limited Partnership, AAI Corp. and Hughes Technical Services Co.

Hughes Training is a unit of Hughes Aircraft Co., which is a unit of Hughes Electronics Corp. The earnings of Hughes Electronics are used to calculate the earnings per share attributable to GMH (NYSE symbol) common stock.

CONTACT: Hughes Electronics Company

Rick Oyler, 817/619-3536

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