Northrop Grumman Selects Mercury Computer Systems For F-16 Radar; Mercury's High-Performance Multicomputers Power Advanced Tactical Radar Systems.

Business/Technology Editors

CHELMSFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 23, 2000

Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRCY) announced today that it has signed an agreement with Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE: NOC) Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector (ES3) to supply RACE(R) multiprocessor technology for the F-16 fighter aircraft radar. This includes support for the advanced agile beam fire control radar and the internal forward-looking infrared and targeting system (IFTS). The current business is valued at $6.8 million to Mercury.

"Northrop Grumman's radar systems are the standard for the F-16 program, the world's largest modern tactical aircraft effort," said Vince Mancuso, vice president and general manager of Mercury's Government Electronics Group. "Mercury will provide the benefits of our commercial RACE architecture, and Northrop Grumman will provide the ruggedization and support required for a deployed, tactical aircraft. This collaboration permits Northrop Grumman and Mercury to leverage each other's investments while providing the ultimate customer with faster time-to-market and a lower total cost of ownership.

"The adaptation of our commercial technology to the F-16 has validated Mercury's acceptance as a leading supplier for tactical platform applications," added Mancuso. "This agreement has great potential for Mercury. Over 4,000 F-16s have been delivered to 19 air forces around the world. We believe the F-16 radar upgrade provides a significant market opportunity for the next five to seven years."

"Northrop Grumman is continuing to innovate in the adaptation of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products for advanced radar systems," said James Armitage, vice president of engineering, ES3, Northrop Grumman. "Mercury delivers powerful signal processing systems that are vital in providing our airborne surveillance customers with a war-fighting edge."

Mercury's digital signal and image processing technology and architecture will be used in the F-16's advanced agile beam fire control radar and in the internal forward-looking infrared and targeting system (IFTS). The agile beam radar provides pilots with the ability to continuously search for and track multiple targets. As a result of increased operational flexibility, pilots will have the ability to simultaneously perform air-to-air search-and-track, air-to-ground targeting, and aircraft terrain following.

Agile beam radar has a highly programmable, modular architecture that has proven to be reliable under extreme weather conditions and under a broad range of threats. Other advantages of this radar include a much greater detection range, an ability to simultaneously detect and track multiple targets, high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images, and a twofold increase in reliability compared to conventional, mechanically scanned radars.

The F-16 has been the most successful fighter in modern times, with exemplary development and production programs including technical performance, cost, schedule and quality. The F-16 will constitute 56 percent of the U.S. Air Force's fighter force through year 2010, about the time the Joint Strike Fighter production is anticipated to ramp up. The F-16 constitutes a significant portion of NATO's fighter force with over 800 aircraft purchased by European members, including recent orders for 80 aircraft from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and 50 from Greece.

Northrop Grumman's ES3 division has chosen Mercury's RACE systems for several of its other applications including, among others, the Tactical Endurance Synthetic Aperture Radar (TESAR) system, a lightweight, low-cost surveillance radar that works with an associated ground station to produce photographic-quality radar imagery with one-foot resolution; and the Space-Time Adaptive Processing (STAP) system, a 972-processor system that improves the detection of difficult or concealed targets in real time.

Additional information and photographs of Northrop Grumman ES3 radar systems are available at http://sensor.northgrum.com/essd/dod1.html.

About Mercury Computer Systems, Inc.

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

Based in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, Mercury serves customers in North America, Europe and Asia through a network of subsidiaries and distributors.

Visit Mercury on the Web: www.mc.com

RACE is a registered trademark of Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. Product and company names mentioned may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective holders.