TRW Oversees First Launch of Millennium Using Retired ICBM as Space Payload Launcher.

Business Editors & Aerospace/Defense Writers

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 13, 2000

For the first time, a refurbished Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) will be used to place payloads into space.

The U.S. Air Force launch is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 14, at 7 p.m. PST, at Spaceport Systems International's commercial spaceport that opened last year at Vandenberg Air Force Base. TRW Inc. (NYSE:TRW), which provides systems engineering and technical oversight to the Air Force, will broadcast the entire event on the Web (www.webcastingtv.com/jawsat), starting at 2 p.m. PST on Jan. 14.

The modified ICBM will carry the Joint Air Force Academy-Weber State University satellite (JAWSAT), the Air Force Research Laboratory's Optical Calibration Experiment and three student-built satellites: FalconSat from the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo.; ASUSAT from Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz.; and OPAL from Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.

JAWSAT will also deploy the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center's Plasma Experiment Satellite and Weber State University's Attitude Controlled Platform experiments.

The newly configured space launch vehicle, capable of placing payloads up to 750 pounds in a 400-nautical mile sun-synchronous orbit, combines the first two stages of refurbished Minuteman II rocket motors and the third and fourth stages of the Pegasus rocket motors.

TRW is the systems engineering and technical assistance contractor for the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center Test and Evaluation Directorate, Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, N.M. TRW provides systems engineering, technical oversight and risk assessment for the Air Force's Rocket Systems Launch Program (RSLP) Orbital Suborbital Program (OSP) contract. One of the goals of this JAWSAT launch is to validate the OSP Space Launch Vehicle's spacelift capability.

For this mission, TRW provides Minuteman technical expertise, selection and processing of the Minuteman motors, system and vehicle test support, and an independent verification for the mission-critical software, controls and loads analysis.

           Satellite Info for JAWSAT launch:
      Date/time:            Jan. 14, 2-8 p.m. PST (5-11 p.m. EST)
      Telstar               6C/11
      Uplink Frequency:     6145
      Downlink Frequency:   3920/vertical
      Arc Position:         93 degrees west

Background Data

TRW has a history of working on mission-critical systems for the Air Force, including an operation in Ogden, Utah, where it serves as the U.S. Air Force's prime integration contractor managing the nation's Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program into the next century. The Ogden office provides support to the selection and processing of the deactivated Minuteman II motors, conducts aging and surveillance, and maintains records on all ICBM assets.

On Nov. 13, 1999, TRW reported the successful launch of a remanufactured Minuteman III missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base to Kwajalein Missile Range as part of the U.S. Air Force Propulsion Replacement Program. This marked "a key milestone for TRW in its new role managing the ICBM fleet, along with teammates Thiokol Propulsion, a division of Cordant Technologies Inc., and Pratt & Whitney's Chemical Systems Division," said Dr. Robert L. Strickler, executive vice president and general manager, TRW Space and Missile Systems.

In Colorado Springs, TRW employs approximately 300 people for several major Air Force programs, including the Joint National Test Facility (JNTF). TRW is the prime contractor for the consolidated research and development at the JNTF, located at Schriever Air Force Base. TRW recently announced that it would pursue the Integrated Space Command and Control (ISC2) program managed by the U.S. Air Force Space Command.

Valued at more than $1.5 billion, ISC2 will migrate existing stovepipe systems into an integrated mission architecture. In addition, ISC2 will implement new mission capability, interface with other command and control systems, and provide Space Command, NORAD, component commanders and other users with an integrated, common global battlefield picture based on shared, real-time data.

TRW's Systems Engineering and Technology unit, based in San Bernardino, Calif., has 220 engineers providing systems engineering support to the RSLP program and other programs across the company's Space and Missile Systems organization. The TRW RSLP project office, staffed with 11 engineers at Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, has provided technical support for 572 launches since 1972.

TRW Inc., with headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, provides advanced technology products and services to the automotive, aerospace and information technology markets worldwide. For more information, visit www.trw.com.