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ATK Agrees to Contract in Excess of $200 Million to Produce Composite Aft Fan Cases for Rolls-Royce Trent XWB Engines

Posted on: Wednesday, 28 January 2009, 07:30 CST

MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK) announced today that it has agreed to a contract valued in excess of $200 million with Rolls-Royce to produce composite aft fan cases for the new Trent XWB engine. The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB is the sole engine currently available to power the new Airbus A350 XWB family of aircraft.

The contract with Rolls-Royce, under which ATK becomes a partner on the Trent XWB program, builds on ATK's legacy of experience in producing high- quality, large-scale composite components for the aerospace industry. At the date of this announcement, Rolls-Royce has received orders for over 1,000 Trent XWB engines, representing an unprecedented launch position for a large civil aerospace engine at such an early stage in the program. In addition to fabricating the aft fan cases, ATK will integrate additional components into the cases to deliver a finished aft case in support of Rolls-Royce's assembly of the full fan case module.

The first ATK-fabricated Trent XWB aft fan case is scheduled for delivery to Rolls-Royce in late 2009. Initial ground testing of the Trent XWB is due to commence in 2010, with maiden flight on the new Airbus twinjet scheduled for 2012. Support of the Rolls-Royce design effort and initial production of the Trent XWB aft fan cases will begin immediately.

"ATK's competitive advantage in composite fabrication technology, built on decades of experience, offers our customers industry-best quality and affordability that can only come from automated fabrication processes," said Jack Cronin, President, ATK Mission Systems. "The era of composite aircraft will revolutionize the industry and this agreement is strong evidence that ATK is well positioned to be a leading force in the production of composite aircraft and engine components for decades to come. We look forward to working with Rolls-Royce on this exciting new program."

ATK has been meeting the requirements for advanced aerospace composites, and successfully executing on large composite programs for decades. For more than 20 years, since ATK invented the fiber placement process and built the first fiber placement machine, ATK has been at the forefront of composite process technology. ATK has developed processes, from high-speed filament winding to phased array ultrasonic inspection for military and space purposes that are designed to improve quality, reduce cycle time, increase repeatability and reduce cost.

In addition to the composites ATK will provide for the Trent XWB, the company also produces composite fan containment cases for commercial aircraft engines, composite solid rocket motor casings and launch vehicle payload fairings; composite military aircraft wing skins, stabilators and pivot shafts for aircraft such as the F-22 and Joint Strike Fighter; and composite rotor tubes for nuclear power generation.

ATK's patented automated composites processing technology significantly reduces fabrication costs while dramatically improving the quality of the final product. The use of this technology allows ATK to produce consistently high-quality composite production parts, essential for the Trent XWB standards of efficiency and reduced lifecycle costs.

ATK is a premier aerospace and defense company with more than 17,000 employees in 21 states and $4.5 billion in revenue. News and information can be found on the Internet at http://www.atk.com.

Certain information discussed in this press release constitutes forward- looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although ATK believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be achieved. Forward-looking information is subject to certain risks, trends and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Among those factors are: the challenges of developing next-generation composite structures; customer budgetary policies and product sourcing strategies; the company's competitive environment; the terms and timing of awards and contracts; and economic conditions. ATK undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. For further information on factors that could impact ATK, and statements contained herein, please refer to ATK's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE ATK

Source: PR Newswire

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