Five-Year Air Force Research Laboratory Contract Expected to Reduce Production Costs, Enhance Performance of Launch Structures
ATK Development Efforts to Benefit Current and Future Composite Launch Structures
Alliant Techsystems has received a five-year, $22 million contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to develop automated composite technologies designed to reduce the manufacturing costs, and increase the performance of large composite launch vehicle structures.
Work on the Large Automated Production of Expendable Launch Structures (LAPELS) contract will be performed at ATK facilities in Clearfield, Utah and Iuka, Mississippi. There are 17 specific initiatives in the LAPELS program including: low cost tooling, filament winding techniques, integrated health monitoring, thermal protection systems, and tape lamination.
“ATK is already an industry leader in the development and production of large composite structures for launch systems, aircraft and space structures,” said Ray Bronson, Vice President and General Manager, ATK Space Systems and Sensors. “We look forward to working with the AFRL on the LAPELS program to showcase how the advancements made in composite materials and manufacturing techniques will benefit commercial and government space-launch capabilities.”
ATK is a $3.4 billion advanced weapon and space systems company employing approximately 15,000 people in 22 states. 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 sophisticated composite technologies; 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, reference should be made to ATK’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and ATK’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006.
