ANAHEIM, CA (June 7, 2001) - L-3 Communications (NYSE:LLL) announced today that its Interstate Electronics Corporation (IEC) division has been selected by General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) and GM Defense to provide intelligent displays for the U.S. Army’s new Interim Armored Vehicle (IAV) program. The contracts are estimated to be worth $30 million, with deliveries expected to start September 2001 and run through 2006. The IAV is an armed vehicle capable of providing swift deployment and support armament. The IAVs are scheduled for production for the next five years, at an initial rate of 366 vehicles for the first year, followed by four years of 375-528 vehicles per year. "L-3 Communications plays a vital role in providing the technologies necessary to assist the U.S. Army in moving to this new IAV platform, which will provide troops with smaller, lighter and more intelligent vehicles," said Frank C. Lanza, chairman and CEO of L-3 Communications. "IEC’s innovative design allows us to deliver performance capabilities to the Army previously not expected to be available until 2004, and to exceed the Army’s tough environmental durability requirements including shock vibrations and temperature extremes." The IEC 10.4" intelligent display is a high brightness, advanced liquid crystal display with software selectable function switches, a high-resolution, infrared, error free touch screen and a flexible architecture, mobile embedded computer. The unit is unique in that it can operate in full sunlight or total darkness with automatic ambient light adjustment. Built on IEC’s experience gained through the production of thousands of "ruggedized" displays, it has an estimated mean-time-between-failure (MTBF) in excess of 10,000 hours for a ground mobile environment at elevated temperatures. The display can withstand wash downs using high pressure water, chemical and biological exposure, high levels of shock and vibration, salt, fog, direct kicks to the glass, steam and immersion in water at a depth of one meter. Based in Anaheim, CA, Interstate Electronics Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of L-3 Communications, has been a long-term supplier of critical test instrumentation and missile tracking systems for the U.S. Navy's Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) weapons systems, including the Trident submarine. The division is ranked as an industry leader in GPS receiver and translator-based products, which are currently in use on a wide variety of aircraft, cruise missiles and precision guided bombs. As an element of various GPS systems and to meet individual customer’s program requirements, IEC produces ruggedized displays for both military and industrial applications. IEC also provides secure communications on a quick reaction basis for deployed forces in Eastern Europe. Headquartered in New York City, L-3 Communications is a
leading merchant supplier of secure communications systems and products,
avionics and ocean products, training products, microwave components and
telemetry, instrumentation, space and wireless products. Its customers
include the Department of Defense, selected U.S. government intelligence
agencies, aerospace prime contractors and commercial telecommunications
and wireless customers. To learn more about L-3 Communications, please
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