Mercury Computer Systems Wins $3.9 Million Order for Deployment On Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.

CHELMSFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 16, 1998--

Success in Bosnia Leads to Expanded Production of Radar to See Through Clouds and Darkness

Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY), a leading supplier of real-time digital signal and image processing systems, has received an order for RACE(R) computer systems as part of a new round of production of the U.S. Army's Predator Medium Altitude Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The $3.9 million order from the Northrop Grumman Electronic Sensors and Systems Division (ESSD) calls for Mercury to provide 23 multicomputer systems for deployment aboard Predator aircraft as part of Northrop Grumman's Tactical Endurance Synthetic Aperture Radar (TESAR) system.

TESAR is a lightweight, low-cost surveillance radar that works with an associated ground station to produce photographic-quality radar imagery with one-foot resolution. Its onboard RACE computer system performs extensive processing on the radar signals before the resulting data is downlinked to the ground station.

"Mercury has been involved with the Predator since initial development and testing began in 1994," said Jay Bertelli, president and CEO of Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. "We have also been selected for use in the Global Hawk and Dark Star UAV programs, and we anticipate one or both of these additional programs to undergo the same testing and deployment phases as the Predator. The military's increasing reliance on unmanned platforms for reconnaissance and high-risk missions is fueling an ongoing demand for more capable computers in smaller, lower-power configurations.

"Mercury is well suited for these applications, because our RACE computers provide a small-footprint, low-power system that can tolerate the motion and vibration aboard the Predator while performing sophisticated digital signal processing on an uninterruptable data stream throughout missions lasting up to 40 hours. Our repeat selection as the provider of stream computers for the TESAR radar system demonstrates that RACE systems meet the challenges of this growing segment of the government electronics market."

Mercury computers flew aboard Predators deployed in Bosnia in 1996 to support United Nations' peacekeeping efforts there. In addition to monitoring troop and weapons movements, other uses for the Predator include target and mine detection, and commercial applications such as mapping, environmental monitoring, and border surveillance. Future UAVs are expected to expand today's surveillance missions and assume roles including combat operations, where their sophisticated computers will allow warfighters to complete airborne missions while remaining out of harm's way.

"From the early development in 1993 to today's deployment, the TESAR radars and computers have been an essential component in the success of the Predator program," said John N. Entzminger, former Deputy for Technology, Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office. "Continuing advances in both these fields are necessary to maintain the superiority of our surveillance programs."

Mercury Computer Systems, Inc., (NASDAQ: MRCY) is the leading independent producer of high-performance digital signal processing computer systems that transform sensor data to information for analysis and interpretation on a real-time basis. Mercury's products play a critical role in a wide range of defense and medical imaging applications. In air-, sea-, and land-based military platforms, these systems process real-time radar, sonar, and signal intelligence data. Mercury's systems are also used in state-of-the-art medical diagnostic devices, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), and the rapidly growing field of digital X-ray.

Mercury has also developed a range of shared storage software products that allow multiple workstations to access large digital files using Fibre Channel at data rates up to 100 MB/sec. These products are being developed for use in the broadcast, entertainment and digital prepress industries, and for a variety of enterprise computing applications.

Based in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, Mercury has more than 360 employees serving customers in North America, Europe and Asia through a network of subsidiaries and distributors.

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause or contribute to such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general economic and business conditions, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, and various other factors beyond the Company's control. This also includes such factors as described from time to time in the SEC reports filed by Mercury Computer Systems including the Prospectus dated January 29, 1998 and the most recently filed Form 10-Q.

Visit Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. on the WWW: http://www.mc.com

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