Textron Systems Begins Production Deliveries of Enhanced Sensor Fuzed Weapon/CBU-105 to U.S. Air Force; SFW Provides USAF with a Clean Battlefield Weapon.

Business/Technology Editors

WILMINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 19, 2002

Textron Systems announced today it has begun production deliveries of the enhanced Sensor Fuzed Weapon to the United States Air Force. Having completed a Pre-Planned Product Improvement (P3I) Program, this highly effective air-to-surface smart munition received production go-ahead in 2001. A total of 300 weapons will be delivered under the initial order. The USAF inventory objective for the enhanced Sensor Fuzed Weapon is in excess of 2000 weapons.

Following a comprehensive production transition effort, production qualification testing was conducted recently at Eglin Air Force Base. The Sensor Fuzed Weapon test results exceeded Air Force effectiveness requirements with 8 targets being hit multiple times.

Frank Tempesta, executive vice president, aerospace and defense products for Textron Systems said, "Sensor Fuzed Weapon has exceeded its performance requirements since it originally entered full rate production in 1996. Now, with improvements introduced through our P3I program, we have doubled the weapon's operational performance against both hard and soft targets for a very modest increase in price. Moreover, in addition to the weapon's excellent performance characteristics, SFW is designed to eliminate the possibility of hazardous unexploded ordnance from being left on the battlefield. We are very pleased to be delivering this exceptional weapon at such a critical time."

In order to prevent hazardous unexploded ordnance with high reliability, each warhead is designed with two self-destruct modes in the event that it fails to engage a qualified target. If for any reason the redundant self-destruct mechanisms fail, each warhead contains a self-deactivation feature that renders the weapon harmless two minutes after deployment.

Each Sensor Fuzed Weapon contains 10 BLU-108 Submunitions with 4 smart warheads for a total of 40 lethal warheads per weapon. The enhanced SFW: (1) adds active laser profiling to the original infrared sensor for improved aim point; (2) incorporates 16 outer fragments to the central explosively formed penetrator for lethality against a broader target set including soft targets and lightly armored vehicles in addition to heavily armored main battle tanks; and (3) operates at a higher height of function, permitting a 100% increase in area coverage from 15 to 30 acres (121,000 square meters) for a single weapon.

This versatile weapon is capable of deployment from a number of aircraft including A-10, B-1, B-2, B-52, F-15 and F-16.

About Textron Systems www.systems.textron.com

Textron Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Textron Inc., provides innovative technology solutions to meet the needs of the global aerospace and defense industries. The company supports military precision engagement and dominant maneuver with strike weapons, mobility and surveillance systems. The Textron name is well known in the areas of advanced weapons, surveillance systems, aircraft control components, specialty marine craft and armored vehicles.

About Textron Inc.

Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) is a $12 billion multi-industry company with more than 51,000 employees in 40 countries. The company leverages its global network of businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services in industries such as aircraft, fastening systems, industrial products, industrial components and finance. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO and Greenlee, among others. More information is available at www.textron.com.

(c) Copyright 2002 Textron Systems Corporation