MESABA SELECTS ACSS T²CAS™

Combined TAWS/TCAS/GPS Solution Selected for Mesaba's AVRO aircraft

Contact:
Steve Henden
Manager, Communications
ACSS, an L-3 Communications & Thales Company
623-445-7021

PHOENIX, March 11, 2003 – ACSS, an L-3 Communications & Thales Company, is pleased to announce that Mesaba has selected T²CAS™ (Terrain and Traffic Collision Avoidance System) for installation in its fleet of BAE AVRO-85 aircraft. T²CAS is a unique safety avionics product that combines aircraft performance-based terrain awareness warning system (TAWS) with the industry’s leading traffic alert and collision avoidance system, the TCAS 2000.

Mesaba, a regional carrier of Northwest Airlines, also will have ACSS integrate a GPS navigation-grade sensor into the T²CAS line-replaceable unit (LRU).

“We’re thrilled that Mesaba has selected T²CAS and the higher level of safety and situational awareness it provides,” said Joe Hoffman, president of ACSS.

Mesaba joins parent company Northwest Airlines in selecting T²CAS. Other T²CAS customers include Aero California, Aeromexico, Federal Express, the U.S. Customs Service and Virgin Express. T²CAS received technical standard order authorization (TSOA) from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in February.

Unlike other TAWS products, T²CAS is a true terrain avoidance product that bases its operator alerts on an aircraft’s actual ability to climb at a given moment – not based on predetermined computations. T²CAS also reduces space requirements, and wiring because it’s a combined TCAS and TAWS solution. This allows customers already using TCAS 2000 or ACSS’ first generation TCAS II to simply swap out the TCAS box for the new T²CAS box and use existing power and wiring. T²CAS is also available with optional Windshear.

For Mesaba, the single LRU solution for TAWS and TCAS was especially appealing. T²CAS offers space advantages by combining TCAS, TAWS, and GPS, which eliminates the need for two additional boxes on the aircraft.

ACSS (Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems, LLC), an L-3 Communications & Thales Company, is a leader in safety avionics systems. ACSS products include the TCAS 2000 and TCAS 1500 traffic alert and collision avoidance systems, a family of Mode S transponders and the T²CAS, a combined traffic and terrain collision avoidance system. More than 8,000 units of ACSS' TCAS products are currently operating in commercial, corporate and military aircraft. Thales Avionics is the exclusive sales agent of ACSS products to the Commercial Air Transport market. To learn more about ACSS, please visit the company's web site at www.L-3com.com/acss.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Except for historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this news release are forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements set forth above involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any such statement, including the risks and uncertainties discussed in the company's Safe Harbor Compliance Statement for Forward-looking Statements included in the company's recent filings, including Forms 10-K and 10-Q, with the Securities and Exchange Commission.