TRW Names Top Program Manager, ICBM Veteran to Head Team Bidding on ICBM Prime Integration Program.

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 14, 1997--TRW (NYSE:TRW) has named one of its most successful program managers and a veteran of the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Program to head its management team for the ICBM Prime Integration Contract now in competition.

Dr. Robert L. Strickler assumes the lead role for TRW and its team of subcontractors as Vice President and General Manager for the ICBM Prime Integration Program. Strickler has spent most of his career in the ballistic missile field, most recently (1991-1995) as Vice President and General Manager of TRW's Ballistic Missile Division (now the Strategic Systems Division). He currently is President and General Manager of TRW Environmental Safety Systems Inc., managing one of TRW's largest prime contracts, the national effort to develop a system to dispose of the nation's high-level nuclear wastes.

"We are pleased to apply the talents and experience of Bob Strickler to this vital national program," said Joseph T. Gorman, chairman and chief executive officer of TRW Inc. "He brings a wealth of experience in the management of large and complex programs as well as vast experience in the ballistic missile field to one of the nation's highest priority programs."

TRW would serve as prime contractor on the ICBM Prime Integration Program, with BDM International, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, MRJ Technology Solutions, Thiokol, and United Technologies Corporation as teammates.

Prior to assuming his position at TRW Environmental Safety Systems Inc. in 1995, Strickler directed TRW's largest engineering project, the Air Force's ICBM systems engineering and technical assistance program at the Ballistic Missiles Division. He has spent more than 25 years in ballistic missile and strategic systems design, development, deployment, operation and maintenance.

In his current assignment at TRW Environmental Safety Systems Inc., Strickler heads a team of 14 industrial firms, four of the nation's national laboratories and the U.S. Geological Survey in a multi-billion dollar program for the Department of Energy that deals with a wide range of engineering, scientific and management complexities. With TRW as prime contractor, Strickler has led the effort to reduce program costs while keeping the complex program on its baseline schedule.

As head of TRW's Environmental Safety Systems Inc., Strickler managed the transition of TRW from a systems engineering and technical support role to that of prime contractor, including the integration of Sandia, Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley laboratories and its 14 industrial teammates representing diverse cultures and disciplines into an effective "virtual corporation." In April of 1997, the TRW-lead team completed the most significant task in the program's history, under budget and within the baseline schedule, a 5-mile long scientific laboratory in a tunnel under Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

"Maintenance of the ICBM force at a high state of readiness over the next 25 years is a nationally important and complex endeavor," said Strickler. "TRW has the experience, resources, and innovative new ideas to guarantee continued readiness and deterrence beginning on the first day of the new contract. We believe our team is uniquely qualified to provide stewardship of the nation's ballistic missile forces."

TRW became the Air Force's systems engineering and technical assistance contractor in 1954 and has helped the Air Force/contractor team build, operate and maintain a nuclear force that has served the country over the past four decades. TRW is currently system engineer for the Peacekeeper and Minuteman missiles.

Strickler, who holds bachelors and masters degrees in aeronautical engineering and a Ph.D in mechanical engineering from Purdue University, joined TRW after serving as a Congressional Science Fellow, a program of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics. He worked in the office of Senator John Warner of Virginia where he was responsible for technical evaluations of defense related issues for Senator Warner and, as a staff member, provided the Senate Armed Services Committee with technical assessments of SALT and strategic offense, defense, and ballistic missile command, control, research, and development programs.

From 1968 to 1979, Strickler was with The Aerospace Corporation. He served as Group Director, Concepts and Plans after a series of line management responsibilities in the Reentry Systems Division. He was responsible for defining advance strategic concepts, identifying technology development paths for the tri-service Advanced Ballistic Reentry Systems (ABRES) program, and assessing the implications of advanced technology test results of current and projected strategic forces.

Prior to joining The Aerospace Corporation, he held a series of engineering positions at Aerojet General Corporation. There, he was responsible for leading strategic, tactical, and space missile systems design and advanced technology efforts.

CONTACT: TRW

Julian Levine, 703/204-8606