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Alliant Techsystems Awarded Contracts Valued at $4.2 Million to Build Composite Structures for Hughes Satellites

Jan 18, 1999

Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK) said its Space and Strategic Systems Group has been awarded contracts valued at $4.2 million from Hughes Space and Communications Company, El Segundo, Calif., to build composite structures for two models of telecommunications satellites.

Under the contracts, the group's Space Structures business unit will build reflectors for the HS 601HP satellite and antenna structures for both the HS 601HP and HS 702 satellites. Deliveries will continue through the middle of 1999.

The high-power, multiple-payload HS 601HP and HS 702 satellites are used for a number of telecommunications applications including direct television broadcasting, private business networks, and mobile communications.

John Sucher, division director, Space Structures, said Alliant has a long heritage of building composite components for high-performance aerospace systems such as satellites, large rocket motor cases, and military and commercial aircraft.

"The strength, light weight, and stability of advanced composite materials in extreme temperatures and harsh environmental conditions make them ideally suited for high-performance aerospace applications such as telecommunications satellites," said Sucher. "We are pleased to provide these high-technology structures for the Hughes 601 and 702 satellites as part of the Hughes Space and Communications team."

Alliant pioneered the use of composite materials in space applications with the fabrication of a graphite truss for Fairchild Industries' ATS-F communications satellite, which was placed into orbit over India in 1973. The company also has fabricated composite components for NASA's planned Space Station, the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, the Hubble Space Telescope, Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, and Lockheed Martin's X-33 VentureStar™ Reusable Launch Vehicle, the next-generation space shuttle.

Alliant Techsystems' Space and Strategic Systems Group comprises the company's space and strategic propulsion and Utah-based composite structures operations. The group employs approximately 1,800 people in California, Florida, Mississippi, and Utah. Sales in fiscal year 1998 were $370 million.

Alliant Techsystems is a $1.1 billion aerospace and defense company with approximately 6,300 employees. Headquartered in Hopkins, Minn., the company's business groups are Conventional Munitions, Space and Strategic Systems, and Defense Systems. Company news and information can be found on the Internet at http://www.atk.com/

SOURCE: Alliant Techsystems

Contact: Dave Nicponski of Alliant Techsytems, 801-251-2552,
david_nicponski@atk.com