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ATK Quick Bolt Program Achieves Major Milestone with First Missile Test Firing

Test Represents Another Success for ATK’s Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile Program

Nov 18, 2002

Minneapolis, Nov. 18, 2002 – A revolutionary new precision-strike capability being developed by ATK (Alliant Techsystems, NYSE: ATK) that will provide near real-time weapon impact assessment data to battlefield command and control centers moved a significant step forward on Nov. 15 with a successful first live missile firing test.

The test firing was conducted as part of ATK Missile Systems Company’s Quick Bolt program, an Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) initiative that adds an encrypted transmitter for weapon impact assessment to the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM), also under development by ATK Missile Systems Company. AARGM – the successor to the AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) – employs a multi-sensor guidance system capable of engaging enemy air defenses even after radar emissions are shut down.

During the Quick Bolt test, which took place at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, Calif., a Quick Bolt missile fired from a U.S. Navy F/A-18 aircraft successfully identified, tracked, and guided to a simulated enemy air defense target employing radar shutdown tactics, where the missile impacted within the lethal warhead radius.

The Quick Bolt weapon impact assessment transmitter system provided tracking and target data to national intelligence assets, which then translated the information and relayed it to program personnel at China Lake for assessment.

"This is a significant milestone in the Quick Bolt program," said Tom Wilson, president, ATK Missile Systems Company. "It moves us a major step closer to giving the Navy a greatly improved capability to detect, locate, and destroy enemy air defenses – and to determine in near real-time how effective the mission was."

Two more test firings scheduled for spring 2003 will also demonstrate the Quick Bolt encrypted receiver subsystem.

The Quick Bolt demonstration continues a series of successful tests of the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake.

The Quick Bolt program is sponsored by the United States European Command and funded jointly by the U.S. Navy and the Office of the Secretary of Defense ACTD program office. The Program Executive Office for Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation, Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is responsible for management of the program. The National Reconnaissance Office also participated in the test at China Lake.

ATK Missile Systems Company, Woodland Hills, Calif., is one of five operating units within ATK Precision Systems Group, which is involved in a broad set of programs that provide precision-fire and strike capabilities for ground, naval, and air forces. The group’s other operating units are ATK Tactical Systems, ATK Ammunition Systems, ATK Integrated Defense, and ATK Precision Fuze.

ATK is a $2.1 billion aerospace and defense company with leading positions in propulsion, composite structures, munitions, and precision capabilities. The company, which is headquartered in Edina, Minn., employs approximately 11,500 people and has three business groups: Aerospace, Precision Systems, and Ammunition. ATK news and information can be found on the Internet at www.atk.com.