Joint SIGINT Avionics Family High Band Prototype Developed by TRW Completes Domestic Flight Testing.

NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 1, 1998--TRW (NYSE:TRW) announced today that the High Band Prototype it has developed for the Joint Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) Avionics Family (JSAF) completed domestic flight testing yesterday. The prototype is the first in a series of JSAF programs that will create functional commonality and interoperability among all U.S. airborne SIGINT reconnaissance platforms.

Flight testing of the High Band Prototype began in December 1997 aboard a Navy aircraft assigned to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. The prototype subsystem, which performs advanced signal collection against a variety of signals, satisfied all government requirements for domestic flight testing. The aircraft next will be deployed internationally for additional testing of the prototype, which will be followed by operational deployment.

"This is a significant milestone toward achieving a common payload across a variety of U.S. Army, Air Force, and Navy platforms," said Dr. John L. Woods, vice president and general manager, TRW Electromagnetic Systems. "When fully implemented, JSAF will give war fighters substantially greater intelligence-gathering capabilities."

The Joint Airborne SIGINT Program Office, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, awarded TRW a prime contract valued at approximately $128 million in 1995 to develop the High Band Prototype. Watkins-Johnson, Palo Alto, Calif., was a major subcontractor for the radio frequency band converters.

Other JSAF programs include High Band and Low Band subsystems, and planned, follow-on upgrades for a variety of Department of Defense aircraft. TRW is prime contractor for the High Band Subsystem Demonstration Unit and subcontractor to Lockheed-Martin's Sanders on the Low Band Subsystem.

TRW Inc. provides advanced technology products and services for the automotive, space and defense, and information technology markets worldwide. The company's sales in 1997 were approximately $12 billion (including the BDM acquisition). The company's news releases are available through TRW's corporate web site (http://www.trw.com/).