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ATK Awarded $97 Million Contract to Develop the Multi-Stage Supersonic Target for the U.S. Navy

Target Will Provide U.S. Navy with Evaluation of Combat Systems Necessary to Counter Surface-to-Surface Missile Threats

MSST Establishes ATK's Missile Target Portfolio

Follow-on Production Contract Could Generate Significant Business

MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK) announced today that it has been awarded a $97 million contract for the design, development, integration, and test of the Multi-Stage Supersonic Target (MSST) by the Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland. With incentives, the value of the contract announced today could reach $103 million. The system design and development phase of the program is expected to be complete by October 2012. Once this phase of the program concludes, the company believes there could be follow-on production awards that generate significant business for ATK over the next decade.

The MSST will simulate a two-stage anti-ship cruise missile threat. It consists of a two-stage unmanned aerial target, a launcher, and associated support equipment. The U.S. Navy will use MSST to evaluate the operational effectiveness of weapons/combat systems against next-generation surface-to-surface anti-ship missiles that cruise at subsonic speeds, initiate a separation event, and then make a supersonic dash to the intended target.

Under terms of the contract, ATK and its teammate, CEi of Sacramento, Calif., will build two engineering evaluation units and seven engineering development models. MSST is the foundation for ATK's targets and anti-ship missile strategy and is the result of an innovative design team and world class systems engineering tools deployed in ATK's virtual engineering network. The MSST will provide threat representation for the developmental and operational testing of major weapon systems. Work will be performed in Sacramento, Calif., Woodland Hills, Calif., Plymouth, Minn., Elkton, Md., and Wichita, Kan.

ATK is a premier aerospace and defense company with more than 17,000 employees in 21 states and approximately $4.6 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 advanced missile targets, assumptions related to follow-on production contract opportunities, changes in governmental spending, 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.

   Media Contact:                          Investor Contact:

   Tom Van Leunen                          Steve Wold
   Phone: 410-412-3218                     Phone:  952-351-3056
   E-mail:  thomas.vanleunen@atk.com       E-mail:  steve.wold@atk.com